RWBY Watches Classic Movies
by Old Wolf Logan
Summary: Exactly what it says on the tin; Teams RWBY and JNR watching classic Earth movies and reacting to them. Inspired by 'The Infinite Realities of Jaune Arc' by Genital WarThunder.
1. Chapter 1

**Happy Thanksgiving, folks, and welcome to my newest fic, inspired by Genital WarThunder's "The Infinite Realities of Jaune Arc", RWBY Watches Classic Movies. It's pretty self-explanatory, really. Just Teams RWBY and JNR, along with the grown-ups, Ilia, Sun, and Ozcar watching Earth movies and reacting to them. I have a short list of movies I want to do, but feel free to make suggestions. If I like the idea, I might just do it. And now, on with the show!**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 1- Jurassic Park, Part 1

Teams RWBY, JNR, Sun, Ilia, and Oscar were walking down the streets of Mistral together, ready for a relaxing night out, with Qrow, Ghira, and Kali following them.

"Remind me again how you two dolts managed to convince me to go with you on this little outing again? We have very important plans to be making." Weiss complained.

"That's exactly why we're doing this." Yang retorted, "Sure, there's a lot of planning to be done before we can set out for Atlas-"

"Ugh, don't remind me." Weiss and Ilia groaned.

"But we can't do any of that with fried brains. We need to take some time to relax, and recharge. Otherwise, we won't be any good when we need to be. Ain't that right, Blakey?"

"I can confirm that she is right this time." Blake said with a small, grin.

"Ha! See? Wait a minute, what do you mean 'this time'?"

"Besides," Ruby said, cutting of her sister, "We got free tickets to this theater anyway, might as well use them."

"What movie are we seeing anyway?" Jaune asked.

"I dunno," Ruby replied, looking at the tickets, "It looks to be some sort of film festival, but it doesn't list any of the movies."

"Ah, well, not knowing is half the fun, am I right?" Yang said.

"I believe Ms. Schnee would fight you on that." Ozcar said.

"Hey!"

A few minutes later, the group of thirteen entered the theater laden with popcorn, drinks, and enough candy to last them till judgement day. Yang and Ren were designated distributers of said candy, because, well because Ruby and Nora. Ilia made sure to sit next to Blake and Sun, but as far away from Weiss as possible. She still had trouble trusting the former Schnee heiress. The adults sat a few rows back to allow the youngsters a relative bit of privacy. The lights began to dim, and everyone, thinking the film was about to start, quieted down and stared at the screen. However, instead of the film beginning, a shaggy white wolf walked out and sat before them.

" _Greetings,"_ he said in a deep, spectral voice, his mouth not even moving _, "I am the Old Wolf. You may call me Logan. Welcome to my theater. Tonight, you will be entertained by a series of hand-picked movies of my own choice from a world known as Earth. However, each of these movies will be staring all of you in one capacity or another."_

"What?!" everyone said collectively.

" _You will all be featured at some point, as well as people you know who are not present. Perhaps even people you'd rather not look upon at all. If it helps, simply think of these as alternate universes._

" _And do not worry about how long you will be here. By stepping into this theater, you have entered what is essentially a pocket dimension that is unbound by the laws of reality. You will be returned to your world either when I get bored, or if the ideas cease to come to me."_

"And what, exactly, gives you the idea that you have the right to do this to us?" Weiss asked indignantly.

" _Stick around, Ms. Schnee, and you just might find out. And yes, I do in fact know all your names and a good deal of your personal histories."_

" _Now let us begin with a personal favorite of mine."_

 **The theater filled with the sounds of the jungle as the beginning credits began to roll along with the title.**

"Jurassic Park, huh? Never heard of it." Ruby said, through a mouthful of popcorn.

"Course you haven't," Yang said, sipping her soda, "Movies from another reality, remember?"

"Am I the only one here who has a problem with that?" Weiss said with exasperation.

 **The screen showed a thicket of jungle which was shaking, showing signs of movement within. Occasionally, it would show a Faunus worker wearing an orange hardhat. Qrow stood amongst the group of Faunus workers- all holding weapons that looked obviously non-lethal- holding his Harbinger fully deployed in scythe mode**.

Ruby could tell he was serious about whatever was happening since his flask was nowhere to be seen.

 **Eventually, a forklift appeared from within the jungle carrying a small shipping container with what appeared to be ventilation holes cut into it.**

"What's in the box!" Yang said with a grin.

"I knew letting you watch Seven as a kid was a bad idea." Qrow said to himself.

 **The forklift brought the container over to a loading dock next to some sort of holding pen and lowered it to the ground before quickly back off. Text appeared onscreen, reading "Isla Nublar, 120 miles west of Menagerie."**

"So this stuff takes place in our own world?" Ilia voiced aloud.

"Apparently, though I've never heard of an island near Menagerie by that name." Ghira said

"Real world, fictional setting. Classic set-up." Blake said.

 **Qrow approached the box before turning back to the workers, "Okay, pushing team, move in there. I want tasers on full charge." He ordered.**

 **Whatever was in the container screeched and caused the container to shake, scaring the crew and making them back away in fright.**

"Jeez, what the hell is in there?" Nora said with a flinch.

"Must be dangerous at least, especially if they're taking this many precautions just to get it in a holding pen." Jaune answered.

" **Steady!" Qrow called out calmly, "Go on. Step back in."**

 **More workers moved to help their co-workers, working to find purchase on the container without risk to themselves. "And push." The container moved until the end facing the holding pen was flush with the pen. "Locked. Loading team step away." The workers moved away from the container quickly, while another Faunus with lion ears climbed on top. "Geoffery, raise the gate." The man, Geoffery, apparently, nodded and grasped the bar in front of him and began to lift it.**

"Getting a bad feeling about this." Ruby said.

 **When it had reached Geoffery's waist, the creature in the container shrieked and ran. However, instead to propelling itself forward, the container moved backwards. Geoffery lost his balance and fell off to the side of the container. Whatever was inside grabbed him by the legs and tried to drag him in, but he caught the side of the container, screaming in pain.**

" **Block the opening!" Qrow yelled as he moved to help Geoffery, tossing away his scythe "Don't let her get out!" The workers who were armed surged forward and began to fire their weapons like mad. Geoffery tried to grab one of the ladder rungs on the side, but was pulled back and lifted bodily off the ground, causing Qrow to stumble. He rose to his feet and tried to wrap his arms about the man's chest. The creature inside shrieked in pain from the many weapons firing on it.**

" **Work her back!" Qrow yelled with a growl, struggling to save the man's life. He could feel Geoffery slipping from his grip. "Shoot her!" he ordered. He was only holding Geoffery's arm now. "Shoot her!" he cried again. Gunshots rang out, but it was too late. Geoffery slipped through his arm and was lost.**

"Holy crap." Yang said, wide-eyed like the rest of her friends. Absent-mindedly, she reached over. took some of Ruby's popcorn and ate it. Ruby did nothing to stop her.

 **The scene transitioned to a man with snow white hair and blue eyes, dressed in an all-white business suit and holding a briefcase, standing on a wooden raft being pulled towards shore by a rope. He nervously waved to the men onshore. The text onscreen read "Mano de Dios Amber Mine, Vacuo."**

"Whitley?" Weiss said, snapping everyone out of their stunned silence.

"Who?" Ruby asked.

"My asshole little brother, who weaseled his way into being the new heir of my family's company."

"So I guess we can assume that this is another one of your family's mines?" Ilia said with a little snark, earning an arm pinch from Blake.

"I don't think so," Weiss replied, "Look."

 **A rather large, light skinned man with a rather impressive moustache sat with three more dark-skinned, Faunus men, turning a hat in his hands.**

" **I really dislike this kid." He said quietly so that only the workers could hear him. They chuckled, obviously agreeing with him.**

"Professor Port?" It was Yang's turn to be incredulous.

"See? First off, the SDC only deals in Dust. We don't even have the tech to mine amber, nor does my father see any profit in it. Second, if this were an SDC mine, conditions would be far, far worse for the workers, mainly because the overseer would be one of my father's hand-picked toadies from Atlas who shares his views in almost everything. Someone like Port would never be put in charge.

" **Peter." Whitley said, offering him his hand, half in greeting, half in request for help off the raft.**

" **Hello, Mr Schnee. Welcome." Port said with easy friendliness, taking his hand and leading him towards the mine.**

" **What's this I hear at the airport? Ozpin's not even here?" Whitley said with slight incredulity, getting right to business.**

" **He sends his apologies." Port replied, already tired of the young man.**

" **We are facing a twenty million lien lawsuit by the family of that worker, and you're telling me Ozpin can't even bother to see me?"**

"Holy shit!" Sun said.

"How much?" Now it was Ilia's turn.

" **He had to leave early. He wanted to be with his daughter, she's getting a divorce."**

" **Well, I understand that, but we've been advised to deal with the situation now. The insurance company-" his last word trailed off as he slipped on a rock.**

" **You okay?" Port asked, helping him up.**

 **Whitley dusted himself off and continued, "The underwriters feel that the accident has raised some very serious safety questions about the park. That makes the investors very, very anxious. I had to promise to conduct a very thorough, on-site inspection."**

 **Port stopped and turned to face Whitley, "Ozpin hates inspections. They slow everything down."**

" **Peter, they'll pull the funding. That'll slow him down even more." Whitley said as a rat Faunus came running up to Port and told him something in a language none of the viewers understood, Faunus aside. Port replied in the same language, and followed the man with an excited look on his face.**

 **They stepped into the mine proper, which was filled with different kinds of Faunus in lamp-helmets digging away at the rock. Whitley, being inexperienced with such things, immediately rammed his head into a support beam. "Ow!"**

" **Watch your head." Port said after the fact.**

 **Ignoring his momentary embarrassment, Whitley continued. "If two experts sign off on the island, the insurance guys will back off. I've already got Nora Valkyrie, but they think she's too trendy. They want Jaune Arc."**

"Why would they want me to consult?" Jaune asked.

"Why not?" Ruby chirped.

"You still give yourself far too little credit, Mr Arc. Need I remind you that Team RNJR never would have made it to Haven if not for your leadership?" Ozcar said.

" **Arc?" Port asked with a laugh, "You'll never get him out of Vale." He took something that a worker gave him and called for his workers to come have a look.**

" **Why not?" Whitley asked, confused.**

" **Because Arc's like me. He's a digger." Port said as he gazed at the stone in his hand. It was a chunk of amber with a mosquito fossilized inside.**


	2. Chapter 2- Jurassic Park, Part 2

**Holy. Shit. You guys actually like this shit. Like, a lot.**

 **Sorry, I'm still trying to process that a single chapter of a fairly basic story got over 100 followers and almost as many favorites in only five days. I am just floored how readers took to this. And to those of you who reviewed, thank you so much for the encouragement. It means more than you know.**

 **Note: I own nothing. Not RWBY, not Jurassic Park. Nothing.**

RWBY Watches Earth Movies

Chapter 2

 **The scene changed to a person- no one could tell if it was human or Faunus- brushing loose dirt off a dark grey, almost rock-like, bone. More people could be seen brushing off more bones. Another was hand-scooping dirt out of the eye socket of a skull. A top-down view showed at least six people working on a complete skeleton, trying to excavate it. More text appeared, reading "Badlands, near Mountain Glen, Vale".**

"They must be bold to be digging near Mountain Glen." Ozcar said.

"Or crazy." Said Blake.

 **A woman with shoulder-length black hair with red tips came up a hill towards the skeleton. "Dr. Arc, Dr. Nikos, we're ready to try again." She said.**

"Yang." Ruby said quietly.

"I know sis," she said, pulling her sister into a one-armed hug.

'Summer Rose,' Ozpin thought to himself. One of his greatest regrets, if not THE greatest. She had been a model for aspiring huntresses. An excellent student, a capable leader, a good friend, a better mother. If Ozpin had a choice, she would have been a sure-fire candidate to be one of the Maidens. If he could fault her for anything, it was how obstinate she could be about things. Then came Mountain Glen. Even then she knew how dangerous the mission was, but she accepted it nonetheless. He knew anyone trying to talk her out would meet with failure, so he hadn't tried to stop her. That was the first mistake. The second was not sending any back-up when he could have. Technically speaking, as a council member, he had the authority to interfere in a huntsman mission in any way he saw fit. Qrow, Tai, Glynda, anyone would have gone to help her, but the call never went out. Because he never got a request from her. And at the end of it all, all that was left of Summer Rose was Ozpin's guilt, a shattered Xiao Long-Rose family, and a simple headstone on a cliff on Patch island.

 **Jaune stood up, his messy blonde hair mostly hidden under a tan, wide-rimmed fedora. He wore a red flannel shirt rolled up to his elbows, khaki pants and aviator sunglasses.**

 **"I hate computers," he said to himself.**

"Good look fearless leader. I'm actually kind of digging the stubble you have going." Nora said, lightening the mood.

"You think?" Jaune asked, rubbing his chin.

 **A woman with long red hair stood up next to him wearing a blue shirt rolled up to her elbows and tied around her midriff, and blue jeans. She also wore a tan hat and sunglasses, just different styles. She looked at Jaune with a grin and put an orange-red bandana around his neck.**

 **"The feeling's mutual," she said with a chuckle. They put their arms around each other and walked down the hill.**

"Well, it looks like this version of me isn't so thick if he's with Pyrrha." Jaune joked.

"You both look older as well. Late-twenties to early-thirties, I'd wager." Ren added

 **At the bottom of the hill, a pair of young men put a black shotgun shell into the top of a strange looking machine with wheels. They locked it into place and stood on it. One of the men pulled the pin on the shell and the machine shook as it fired the shell into the ground, creating a cloud of dust. While the men ejected the shell and reset the machine, a crowd gathered around a tent where a computer station was set up. Jaune and Pyrrha were at the front, looking at the screen.**

" **How long does this usually take?" Pyrrha asked the young man operating the computer.**

" **It should bring an immediate return," the man said as he typed on the keyboard and tuned on the screen, "Shoot the radar into the ground, and the bone bounces the image back." He started talking to himself as he worked. The screen started out blurry, but as the man continued typing, it became clearer, showing a complete skeleton, like what the team on the hill was already digging up. "This new program is incredible. Few more years development and we won't even have to dig anymore."**

" **Where's the fun it that?" Jaune asked, making Pyrrha laugh.**

" **It's a little distorted, but I don't think it's the computer." The young tech said.**

" **It's not," Pyrrha said, approaching the computer, "Post-mortem contraction of the posterior neck ligaments. Velociraptor?"**

Ruby's eyes lit up at the name. Yang noticed this and groaned internally. If there was anything Ruby loved as much as weapons, it was dinosaurs and Velociraptor was one of her favorites.

"Jaune, you're a paleontologist. A dinosaur hunter!" she said excitedly.

" **Yeah. Good shape, too." Jaune said, taking a closer look at the computer screen and pointing at it, "It's five, six feet high. I'm guessing nine feet long. Look at the extraord- "Jaune stopped as the screen frizzed out when he accidentally touched it.**

"Those measurements don't seem right," Ruby said.

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked.

"Here we go," Yang said as she placed her head in her palm.

"They're too large. Velociraptor was a relatively small dinosaur, about two feet tall and six long. What Jaune just described sounds more like a Deinonychus." Ruby said.

"Rubes, I beg of you, please just enjoy the movie. If I want info, I swear I will ask you." Yang pleaded with her.

" **What'd you do?" the tech asked as he worked to fix the image.**

" **He touched it," Pyrrha said with a laugh, "Dr. Arc's not machine-compatible."**

" **Hell, they've got it in for me," he said, "and look at the half-moon shaped bones in the wrists. It's no wonder these guys learned how to fly." The people around him began to chuckle. "No, seriously." He said, turning to face them, "Alright, well, maybe dinosaurs have more in common with present-day birds, than they do with reptiles. Look at the pubic bone; turned backwards, just like a bird. Look at the vertebrae; full of air sacks and hollows, just like a bird. And even the word 'raptor' means 'bird of prey.'**

"A very interesting theory." Ruby said.

" **That doesn't look very scary." Said a voice from behind. Everyone turned to see a short, chubby boy in a t-shirt, shorts and a ball cap speaking, "Looks more like a six-foot turkey." This elicited even more chuckling from the crowd.**

" **A turkey, huh?" Jaune said, putting his hands on his hips and giving the kid his full attention.**

" **Oh, no," Pyrrha groaned, "Here we go."**

" **Okay, try to imagine yourself in the Cretaceous period. You see this six-foot turkey as you enter a clearing. He moves like a bird, lightly bobbing his head. And you keep still because you think that maybe his visual acuity is based on movement, like T. Rex. He'll lose you if you don't move. But no, not Velociraptor. You stare at him, and he just stares right back. And that's when the attack comes, not from the front, but from the side." He made a whistle as he brought a finger from each hand in front of the kid, "From the other two raptors you didn't even know were there. Because Velociraptor's a pack hunter, you see. He uses coordinated attack patterns, and he is out in force today." He circled around the back of the kid and brought out something from his back pocket. "And he slashes at you with this." He showed it to the kid, it was a long, curved fossil claw that he held in one hand between his index and middle fingers. "A six-inch, retractable claw, like a razor, on the middle toe. He doesn't bother to bite your jugular, like a lion, see. No, no. He slashes at you here," he cut across the boy's chest with the claw, "Or here," he cut along one of his thighs, "Or maybe across the belly, spilling your intestines. The point is, you are alive when they start to eat you. So, you know, try to show a little respect?"**

" **Okay," the boy whispered. Jaune started back up the hill to the main dig with a small smile on his face. Pyrrha soon caught up with him.**

"Damn, Vomit Boy, that was legit intimidating."

" **Hey Jaune, if you wanted to scare the kid, you coulda pulled Crocea Mors on him, ya know." She said.**

" **Yeah, I know. Kids," he said, exasperated, "You wanna have one of those?"**

" **I don't want that kid, but a breed of child Dr. Arc could be intriguing. I mean, what's so wrong with kids?"**

" **Ah, Pyrrha, look, they're messy, they're noisy, they're expensive."**

" **Cheap, cheap."**

" **They smell."**

" **They do not smell!"**

" **Some of them smell. Babies smell!"**

" **Give me a break." Pyrrha said laughing.**

 **Suddenly, a Bullhead came over the rise and began to set down near the camp, throwing up dust and dirt, and endangering the bones. Jaune and Pyrrha ran back down the hill to preserve their hard work, yelling at their students to cover it up. Pyrrha moved to help them lash a tarp over the bones before they could become to covered up again with dirt and dust, while Jaune ran up to Bullhead's cockpit and began yelling at the pilot.**

"What's all that about?" Ilia wondered aloud.

"I've read that once a dig like this begins, you have to keep going until you can extract everything you can from the find. If they don't cover up the bones, they just wasted all the time and effort it took to dig 'em up in the first place." Ruby explained.

" **Just cut it, will ya? Shut it down." He yelled, but the pilot began pointing to the trailer, trying to tell him something. Giving up, Jaune ran to the trailer and stormed in. inside was an older man in all white clothes with messy grey hair, black glasses, and a cane rummaging through the refrigerator.**

" **What the hell do you think you're doing in here?" he said, exasperated. There was a loud pop as the man opened a fresh bottle of champagne as he turned around. "Hey, we were saving that!"**

" **For today, I guarantee it." he said kindly.**

" **Who in Oum's name do you think you are?" Jaune said, approaching the man and pointing at his chest.**

" **Call me Ozpin, and I'm delighted to meet you finally in person, Dr. Arc," he said, taking Jaune's finger and shaking it.**

"So, that's what professor Ozpin looked like, huh?" Kali said, "I had never seen him before now."

"Nor I," said Ghira.

 **He let go and blew the dust off his hand, "So, I can see that my fifty-thousand a year has been well-spent." Jaune looked as though he had just met the most important person in the known world.**

"Hey kid," Qrow called, "Something tells me your other half ain't exactly a school teacher in this universe."

"He agrees," Oscar replied.

 **Pyrrha stormed in next, angry and covered in dust, "Okay, who's the jerk?"**

" **This is our paleobotanist, Dr. Nikos," Jaune said politely, turning a complete 180 from his earlier tone, "Uh, Pyrrha this is Mr. Ozpin."**

"What the heck's a paleobotanist?" Yang asked.

"Probably similar to a paleontologist, but focused on plants." Blake guessed.

 **Pyrrha's face went beet red with embarrassment as Ozpin came over to shake her hand, "I'm sorry about the dramatic entrance Dr. Nikos, but…"**

" **Did I say jerk?" she said, trying to make a joke.**

"Is it just me, or is Pyrrha's face going as red as her hair?"

"Oh yeah," Jaune said.

"That brings back a few memories," Nora said.

"Yes," Ren agreed, "Quite a few. Most of them involving you, Jaune."

"Gee, I wonder why?" Jaune deadpanned back.

"… **we're in a wee bit of a hurry. Will you have a drink? We won't let it get warm. Sit down, sit down."**

 **Pyrrha, flustered, tried to make the countertop presentable while looking for a few clean glasses. "Well, uh…"**

" **I'll just get a glass or two- "**

" **Well, let me have this- "**

" **No, no, no, I can manage this. I know my way around the kitchen." He shooed Pyrrha off as he grabbed a glass from the sink and began cleaning it with a dish cloth. "Now, I'll get right to the point; I like you, both of you. I can tell instantly about people, it's a gift." Jaune and Pyrrha sat down on one side of the kitchen with Ozpin leaning against the countertop, pausing while he cleaned the glass. "I own an island, off the coast of Menagerie. I've leased it from the government and I've spent the last five years setting up a kind of biological preserve. Really spectacular. Spared no expense. Make the one I've got down in Vacuo look like a petting zoo. And there's no doubt, our attractions will drive kids out of their minds."**

" **And what are those?" Jaune asked.**

" **Small versions of adults, honey." Pyrrha answered back sarcastically.**

"Man, P-Money has got some SASS in this universe." Yang declared.

" **And not just kids, everyone," Ozpin said as he began on another glass, "We're going to open next year, that is if the lawyers don't kill me first. I don't care for lawyers, do you?"**

"Nope," Everyone but Oscar said in unison.

" **We, uh, don't really know any." Jaune and Pyrrha answered nervously.**

" **Well, I do I'm afraid. There's a particular pebble in my shoe that represents my investors. Says they insist on outside opinions."**

" **What kind of opinions" Pyrrha asked.**

" **Well, your kind, not to put too fine a point on it." Ozpin said as started filling the glasses with champagne, "I mean, let's face it, in your particular fields, you're the top minds. And if I could just persuade you to sign off on the park, you know, give it your endorsement, maybe even pen a wee testimonial, then I could get back on schedule."**

" **Why would they care what we think?" Pyrrha asked.**

" **What kind of park is this?" Jaune added.**

 **Ozpin looked at Jaune with an amused grin. He handed him a glass and said, "It's right up your alley. I tell you what, why don't you come down, just the pair of you, for the weekend?" he handed Pyrrha the other glass and sat on the kitchen countertop, allowing his legs to dangle over the side, "I'd love to have an opinion of a paleobotanist as well. I've got a Bullhead standing by at Beacon."**

"Dinosaur theme park, I'm calling it," Sun said confidently.

" **Look, I'm sorry," Jaune said, standing up, "This just isn't possible. We just dug up a new skeleton… "**

" **I could fully compensate you by fully funding your dig…"**

" **And this is a very unusual time."**

" **For a further three years."**

 **Jaune and Pyrrha looked at each other and knew what that offer meant to them and the crew outside. The clinked their glasses together and started to laugh.**

" **Where's the airship?" Pyrrha said for Jaune who was lost for words. He clinked glasses with Ozpin and hugged Pyrrha, laughing hysterically with her.**

 **The next scene showed a dirty sedan pulled up to a small market and dropped off a man in a red polo shirt and blue jeans, carrying a leather bag and a beige backpack. His garb was unfamiliar, and his sunglasses obscured his face, but nobody could mistake the flaming orange hair and black bowler hat of Roman Torchwick. He walked into the market without paying his cabby as text appeared that read "Kuo Kuana, Menagerie".**

"Torchwick," Ruby growled, old memories resurfacing.

"Well, that Old Wolf guy did say we were gonna see people we'd rather not."

"Well, hopefully, he's a bad guy. At least then it'll harder to sympathize with him." Ruby pouted.

"Now, you see, those kinds of words hurt, Little Red." Said a voice from the back.

Everyone turned to see, from left to right, Roman Torchwick, his right hand, Neo, along with Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury.

"What the fuck are you asshats doing here?" Yang yelled, not noticing that the film had paused itself.

" _I brought them here, Ms. Xiao Long. I thought it prudent, seeing as some of them will be showing up in the films yet to come. And don't anyone try attacking them. If you will notice, all your weapons are no longer with you, and your Semblances are being suppressed, including Ms. Fall's Maiden powers."_

"It's true," said Cinder, "See?" she held up a hand and her face twisted into a grimace as she tried to summon a fireball, but nothing happened.

" _Now, with all that in mind, I believe we can return to enjoying the film, while I listen to your commentary. First, however, I believe we should balance out the bad with the good, so…"_

A light appeared behind them. The group turned and saw standing before them, Neptune Vasilias, Taiyang Xiao Long, Winter Schnee, Glynda Goodwitch, and- standing front and center- Summer Rose.

"M-mom?" Ruby croaked out, while Yang stood speechless and Qrow rose from his seat. Ruby jumped into her mother's arms, planting a fierce hug on her. Yang tried to do the same, but Summer gave her a two-finger jab to the forehead. "That was for dropping an f-bomb. Now, c'mere, Firecracker."

The theater stayed quiet as the mother and daughters reunited for the first time in years. Tai walked up to Qrow, hugged him, and quietly introduced himself to the Belladonnas before taking a seat next to his old partner. Weiss walked up to her sister and was able to maintain a sense of decorum for about ten seconds before she latched onto her sister, as if she had not seen her in years. Sun approached his best friend and gave him a firm bro-hug

"Dude, I have so much to tell you," Sun said.

"I'll say, but maybe after the movie, yeah?" Neptune replied.

Glynda walked over to Oscar and hesitantly said, "Is that you Ozpin?"

"Yes, it is Gylnda. And you have to idea how happy it makes me to see you again. How go things at Beacon?"

"Slow but steady." She said as she took a seat next to him, "The frozen Grimm Dragon is proving to be the biggest problem."

"I should think so. I did imprison it under that mountain for a reason, you know."

" _I hate to be 'That Guy'- "_

Neo held up a sign that said, "I highly doubt that."

" _But I must ask everyone to please return to their seats so that the movie may continue."_

"So, what's the movie?" Summer asked, taking a seat between her daughters.

"Jurassic Park, starring us." Ruby said, wiping the last of her tears of joy from her eyes.

"Huh?"

"Alternate universe, Mom. Probably best not to question it." Yang said, handing her a bucket of popcorn.

 **As the movie resumed, Roman walked to a restaurant looking for his contact. His contact turned out to be none other than Mercury Black, who was in the middle of a meal when he noticed the flame-haired man.**

" **Yo, Torchwick!" he said, waving him over.**

 **Torchwick walked over, took a seat, placing his pack to one side and the bag on the other and said, "You shouldn't use my name."**

" **Torchwick. Torchwick! We've got Torchwick here!"**

"Yeah, sounds like something you'd do." Emerald deadpanned.

"You're not incorrect." Mercury replied.

 **Mercury said, annoying the man, "Ya see? Nobody cares. Nice hat. If you really wanna blend in, ditch the bowler."**

"I would never!" Roman said.

Neo held up a sign that said, "He speaks heresy against the hat!"

 **Torchwick grabbed the bag and handed it to Mercury. "750,000 lien. On delivery, 50,000 more for each viable embryo. That's 1.5 million if you get all 15 species off the island." Mercury started laughing with giddiness.**

" **Oh, I'll get 'em all." Mercury said.**

" **Remember, viable embryos. They're no use to us if they don't survive."**

" **How am I supposed to transport them?"**

 **Torchwick reached into his backpack and pulled out a can of shaving cream. "The bottom screws open. It's cooled and compartmentalized inside. Customs can even check it if they want to." He screwed the top back on.**

"That's pretty clever. Low-key, easily over-looked." Emerald commented

"Probably some kind of Atlas tech." Qrow chimed in.

" **That's great, lemme see." Mercury took the can and poured a small amount of cream onto his hand.**

" **There's enough coolant inside for thirty-six hours."**

" **No menthol?" Mercury joked.**

" **The embryos have to be back in Kuo Kuana by then."**

 **Mercury looked at Torchwick seriously as he wiped off his hand, "That's up to your guy on the boat. 7 o' clock tomorrow night on the East Dock. Make sure he gets it right."**

" **How are you planning to beat security?" Torchwick asked nervously.**

" **Oh, I've got an 18-minute window. Eighteen minutes and your client catches up on 10 years of research." A server came up to the table and handed them the check. Mercury looked at Torchwick questioningly, "Don't get cheap on me, Torchwick. That was Ozpin's mistake." He said as Torchwick examined the bill.**

"So that's their game." Weiss said under her breath.

"What is, dear sister." Winter asked.

"It's industrial espionage, that's what's going on. I was wondering why anyone would meet Mercury in the first place- "

"Hey!"

"-but apparently, he works for whatever Ozpin is doing in Menagerie, and whatever Ozpin is working on, Torchwick's employer wants to know what it is, most likely so he can get in on it."

"So, he goes for a disgruntled employee, knowing the best way to get inside information is from someone on the inside who is easily bribed," Winter finished, "Sounds like something Father would do."

"In a heartbeat, if he had a heart."

"Wow, they really have a hate-boner for their old man, don't they?" Tai said to Qrow.

"Tai, I've met him. Trust me, you don't know the half of it." Qrow said.

* * *

 **Aaaaaaand scene. So there's another chapter down. Time for a couple announcements.  
**

 **1.) For those of you who left ideas in your reviews, I want to say thank you, again, and let you know that I read through each one and picked out the ideas i liked best. No, I will not drop any spoilers, but I will let you all know that I will occasionally be doing trailer chapters in between movies to let you all know what to expect.**

 **2.) I want to let you all know right off the bat, I will not be doing any Marvel movies. Trust me, the thought had crossed my mind back when I was still planning, but I soon came to realize that the number of major characters in those movies far exceeds the number of named characters in RWBY. Even just trying to do Phase 3 is nearly impossible with the cast list we currently have.**

 **3.) Chapters will now be released every two weeks. I released the first chapter as a sort of Thanksgiving special, but with the release of this chapter, I will be moving to a more steady schedule, giving me enough time to do my process and make sure the quality is as good as it can be. Plus, if it's good enough for Couer Al' Aran, it's good enough for me. Note: this schedule is subject to change.**

 **Next Chapter: 12/11/18**

 **Remember to Follow, Favorite, and Review. Old Wolf, out!**


	3. Chapter 3- Jurassic Park, Part 3

**Hey folks, Old Wolf Logan here. Now, I know I said that this chapter wasn't going to come out for another week, but I also said I reserve the right to change that as necessary. There's also the fact that I am having way to much fun with this, and that my work is progressing faster than I had anticipated. So, without further ado, let's get into the chapter.**

 **Note: I do not own RWBY or Jurassic Park.**

RWBY Watches Earth Movies

Chapter 3

 **A small transport Bullhead flew over the ocean. Inside were five individuals. On one side sat Ozpin, who was still in his all-white clothes and held his cane. Next to him sat Pyrrha who had changed into a clean pink shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, shorts that showed off her long legs, and boots. She leaned against Jaune, in his blue shirt and khaki pants, who was messing with his fossil raptor claw. Across from them sat Whitley. The top of his outfit was pure business, white shirt, tie, grey blazer, but instead of pants, he decided on a pair of grey shorts and he was holding an off-white hat. Next to him sat the most unexpected person of all.**

"NORA?!" everyone exclaimed.

 **Nora's get-up was almost diametrically opposite to what she normally wore; a black button-up shirt that showed a tasteful amount of cleavage, a black leather jacket, black slacks, black dress shoes, even dark glasses. From her neck hung a gold necklace that held a pendant of her personal emblem, the lightning hammer. She decided to break the silence.**

"I'll be honest here, Nora, that is not an outfit I would ever think you would wear." Yang said

"Me neither. Black is good and all, but I think I like whites and pinks better."

" **So, you two dig up dinosaurs?" she asked.**

 **Pyrrha chuckled, "Well…"**

" **We try to," Jaune finished. Nora started laughing a bit at that.**

" **You'll have to get used to Dr. Valkyrie. She suffers from a deplorable excess of personality, especially for a mathematician."**

"A doctor of mathematics?" Weiss said curiously, "They can't be talking about our Nora."

"Hey!"

" **Chaotician, actually," Nora corrected as she put a piece of gum in her mouth and started to chew, "Oz here doesn't subscribe to chaos, particularly what it has to say about his little science project."**

" **Codswallop. Nora, you've never been able to sufficiently explain your concerns…"**

" **Oh, Oz, don't. because of the behavior of the system in phase space?"**

" **A load, if I may say so, of fashionable number crunching."**

" **Dr. Nikos, Dr. Arc, you've heard of Chaos Theory?" she asked.**

"What's Chaos Theory?" Ruby asked, confused.

"A sign of how old this movie must be," Ozcar replied, "Chaos Theory is an older term for complexity theory, which is basically the study of science and math as it relates to the real world."

"How so?" Weiss asked, interested.

"Most of the math and science you learned is linear and predictable. Complexity theory deals with unpredictability and sudden changes. For example, any form of turbulence. I could go into more detail, but I'd rather save it for later."

" **No." Pyrrha answered.**

" **No? Non-linear equations?" Pyrrha shook her head, "Strange attractors?" More silence, "Dr. Nikos, I refuse to believe that you aren't familiar with the concept of attraction." Pyrrha turned her head to hide her blush.**

"Wow, looks like Nora has the hots for P-Money," Yang teased.

"I can see that happening, actually," Ren said. Nora looked at him warily.

"Seriously?"

Ren nodded, "She went through a bit of a… phase back in combat school."

"Oh, I'm gonna get some mileage out of this."

 **Ozpin turned to Whitley, and said, "I bring the scientists, you bring a rock star," then he looked out the window, and pointed, "There it is."**

 **The Bullhead began its' approach, heading for an opening in the cliffs. The opening became a full canyon, heavily forested. The transport continued through the canyon until it reached a landing pad near a waterfall and a small pond.**

"So pretty," Ruby said wide-eyed, causing Summer to chuckle and kiss her head.

 **As the Bullhead hovered, Ozpin spoke, "Bad wind shears. We have to drop pretty fast. So, hang on, because it can be just a little thrilling." Suddenly, the Bullhead lurched downward. All the passengers, besides Ozpin, almost flew out of their seats. Ozpin chuckled and looked at the couple. "Yahoo." He deadpanned. Whitley laughed politely, while hurrying to put his seat belt on. Nora was calm, and coolly put hers on. Pyrrha did the same, but Jaune wasn't as lucky, since he somehow managed to grab two female buckles. A small argument ensued as Jaune struggled to secure himself. Ozpin tried to help by throwing out instructions, "You need that piece over here, and that piece… well, we'll have landed by the time you get it right." Forgoing everything else, Jaune just decided to side with practicality by tying both ends tightly about his waist. He didn't care much if he looked stupid, so long as it worked, which it did.**

 **The Bullhead finally landed. Nearby waited a pair of red and tan jeeps with numbers on the side. A man ran up to the transport and opened up the door for them. Ozpin went out first to admire the scenery, followed by Whitley, who immediately hurried for a car. Pyrrha and Jaune came next, with Nora bringing up the rear, mainly so she could admire Pyrrha's.**

"Well, Vomit Boy, looks like this version of you can handle his motion sickness." Yang teased.

"I am never gonna live that down, am I?"

"At this point, it's a nickname. And those don't change very easy with me."

 **As the Bullhead pulled away, the jeeps, with Nora, Jaune, and Pyrrha in the lead one, and Ozpin and Whitley in the rear one, traveled down a dirt road and through a gateway in a fence that had to be almost twenty feet high. As they passed through, workers closed the gates. On the door was a sign that read, "Danger, 10,000 Volts."**

Nora grinned evilly at this. "Nora, no," Ren said.

"Nora, yes!"

 **In the rear jeep, Whitley and Ozpin were in a heavy conversation, almost an interrogation.**

" **The full fifty miles of perimeter fence are in place?" Whitley asked.**

" **And the concrete moats, and the motion sensor tracking system. Whitley, dear boy, relax. Try and enjoy yourself." Ozpin said back in exasperation.**

" **Let's get something straight, Oz. This isn't a weekend excursion. This is a serious investigation of the stability of the island. Your investors, whom I represent, are deeply concerned. Forty-eight hours from now, if they're not convinced," he pointed at the lead car, "I'm not convinced. I'll shut you down, Oz."**

 **Ozpin smiled and said, "In forty-eight hours, I'll be accepting your apologies."**

 **The jeeps pulled to a stop atop a grassy hill somewhere on the island. Pyrrha was busy examining a plant she had found, talking to herself.**

 **"This shouldn't be here," she said. Jaune looked off to the side, seeing something off screen that rendered him speechless. He stood up in his seat and took off his sunglasses to get a better look, mouth open in shock. "Jaune, this species of Veriforman's been extinct since the Cretaceous Period. I mean, this thing- what? What?" she said as Jaune reached down, grabbed the top of her head and turned to face the same direction as him. She saw it and she too stood in her seat.**

 **Walking across the plain, not twenty feet from the cars, was a huge creature. It looked similar to a giraffe with it's long neck, stocky body, and long legs. Ruby recognized it immediately. A brachiosaur. It walked past the cars, bellowing as it passed, and up to a tall tree and began eating. Jaune and Pyrrha exited their car and walked up to it.**

"Well, now, somebody had better pick up that phone," Sun said smugly, "Cuz I freaking called it!"

"Hey, back off Monkey Boy. Puns are my thing!"

"You're just jealous cuz I can do it better."

"Are they really ignoring the fact that there is a flesh and blood dinosaur on screen?" Emerald piped up.

"I can see two people who aren't," Torchwick said.

"Like mother, like daughter," Neo's sign read. Then she held up another that read, "And yes, folks, this is how I talk."

" **It's- it's a dinosaur," was all Jaune could muster.**

 **Pyrrha was no better, barely managing an "uh-huh."**

 **Ozpin walked past the lead car towards Jaune and Pyrrha, chuckling. Nora remained in the car, no less astonished. "You did it," she whispered, "You crazy son of a bitch, you did it." the driver overheard and turned to look at her.**

 **Jaune and Pyrrha walked closer, making observations all the way, "We could tear up the rule book on cold-bloodedness," he said, "It doesn't apply. They're totally wrong. This is a warm-blooded creature."**

"What make them think that?" Weiss asked alod

" **This thing doesn't live in a swamp."**

" **This thing's got a, what? 25, 27-foot neck?" Jaune asked, briefly turning to look at Ozpin then back up at the dinosaur.**

" **Brachiosaur? Thirty." Ozpin corrected.**

" **Right."**

"That's how they know." Ruby said.

"What do you mean?"

This time, Summer spoke, "Well, first there's the fact that it's walking around in direct sunlight and isn't dead. That indicates that its body can regulate its body temperature on its own, and only warm-blooded animals can do that. Then there's the neck length. Only a four-chambered, warm-blooded heart would be able to pump enough blood up that neck and into the brain so that animal can function."

 **The brachiosaur let out a short bellow before it suddenly reared-up on its hind legs and reached for a clump of branches higher-up in the tree, towards the top. It grabbed them in its mouth, pulled until they all snapped off, and fell back down on all fours, causing the ground to shake.**

" **We're gonna make a fortune with this place," Whitley said to himself.**

"And there's the Whitley we know and hate," Weiss deadpanned.

"It seems something rather big happened back home," Winter said, "What did I miss?"

" **How fast are they?" Jaune asked Ozpin.**

" **Well, we clocked the T-Rex at 32 miles an hour," Ozpin replied.**

"What?" Ruby and Summer said together.

"Man, Neo, you weren't kidding," Torchwick commented under his breath.

" **T-t. Rex?" Pyrrha asked, amazed, "Your said you got a T. Rex?"**

" **Uh-huh."**

 **Jaune grabbed Ozpin by the shoulder, "Say again."**

" **Heh, we have a T. Rex."**

 **Jaune didn't feel so good. He felt light-headed and was losing his balance. Felt like he was gonna hurl. He tried to stay vertical, putting his feet shoulder-width apart and putting his hands on his knees, but he eventually fell on his butt.**

" **Put your head between your legs," Pyrrha said.**

"Will we see it?" Yang teased Jaune.

"Please stop," Jaune groaned.

" **Dr. Arc," Ozpin said with a chuckle as he walked past them to look at the valley the hill overlooked, "My dear Dr. Nikos, welcome to Jurassic Park." Jaune turned and beheld an even grander sight; a pair of Brachiosaurs emerged from a lake down in the valley, while a small group of Parasauralophus were drinking from the lake.**

" **They're moving in herds. They do move in herds," he said to Pyrrha. Ozpin knelt next to the pair. "How'd you do this?" Jaune asked him.**

" **I'll show you." He said quietly.**

* * *

 **Apparently, alot of you guys were looking forward to that last scene, or at the very least, the "welcome to jurassic park" bit. So, yeah, that's that done. See you next week for Mr. DNA. Remember to Follow, Favorite, and Review. Old Wolf out.**

 **Next Chapter: 12/11/18**


	4. Chapter 4-Jurassic Park, Part 4

**Sorry if I'm a little late with this one. I've been a little sick for the past few days and today just kinda slipped by me. Curse you Jurassic World Evolution! But let's get you to the real reason you're here. Chapter 4!**

RWBY Watches Earth Movies

Chapter 4

 **The jeeps pulled out of the jungle and up to a semi-circular grey building with three cone-shaped rooves made of either wood or straw. They unloaded and were guided up the steps and through the large double doors by Ozpin. Inside was a large lobby that contained complete skeletons of a T. Rex attacking a Brontosaurus, surrounded by a winding staircase that led to a second-floor balcony. From the ceiling hung a banner that said, "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth."**

"Well, now we know why Roman is paying Mercury so much to steal stuff," Emerald said, taking a sip of her soda.

"I'm just wondering why he didn't hire you, Emerald," Cinder commented, making the dark-skinned girl blush slightly.

"Well, Ice Queen did say they needed a disgruntled employee," Mercury said, grabbing another handful of popcorn, "And we don't even know if Em is even in this movie."

"You don't get to call me that, Black." Weiss said with a death glare.

" **Good day," Ozpin said as he led them into the lobby and up the stairs, "Now, the most advanced amusement park in the entire world, incorporating all the latest technologies. And I'm not just talking about rides, you know. Everybody has rides. No, we've made living biological attractions so astounding that they'll capture the imagination of the entire planet."**

"Think Father would ever try something like this?" Weiss said to Winter.

"Possible," she replied, "If he thought it would be worth his time and money."

"SDC amusement parks. That's hard to imagine."

" **So what're you thinking?" Pyrrha asked Jaune.**

" **We're out of a job," Jaune deadpanned.**

" **Don't you mean 'extinct'?" Nora said with a shit-eating grin.**

"Jaune, I think you'll need your Semblance to heal that burn." Nora teased.

 **They entered what appeared to be a movie theater of some kind. Jaune, Nora and Pyrrha sat in the front row, while Ozpin directed Whitley to sit a few rows behind them.**

" **Ah, here he comes," Ozpin said as an image of him in a dark business suit walked on screen, "Oh, well, here I come."**

" **Hello, heh heh, hello," the on-screen Ozpin said.**

" **Say hello, say hello," the off-screen Ozpin encouraged. The doctors just waved.**

" **Hello, Oz," On-screen Oz said.**

" **Oh, that's right. I have lines," Off-screen Oz remember. He reached into his chest pocket and pulled out a small stack of notecards.**

" **Oh, well, fine. Fine, I guess. But, how did I get here?" On-screen Oz said.**

" **Well, let me show you," Off-screen Oz said as he found his place, "But first, I'm going to need a drop of blood. Your blood."**

"I guess this takes talking to yourself to a new level," Yang said. Everyone groaned, while Neo held up a sign that said 'Boo!' "Oh, screw you guys, that was funny!" she pouted. Summer giggled and rubbed her head.

" **Oh, right," On-screen Oz said nervously as he held a finger out. Off-screen Oz made a jabbing motion at his counterparts' finger. The on-screen version immediately pulled his finger back following a cartoonish noise, "Oz, that hurt."**

" **Relax, Oz. it's all a part of the miracle of cloning."**

 **Suddenly, a second Ozpin stepped out from behind the one on screen. They greeted each other as another one stepped out. As this continued, and Off-screen Oz took a seat next to Whitley, Nora, Jaune and Pyrrha began talking amongst themselves.**

"And I thought one Ozpin was bad enough," Cinder said.

" **Cloned from what?" Jaune asked, "Loy extractions never recreated an intact DNA strand."**

" **Not without massive sequence gaps." Nora added.**

" **Paleo-DNA from what source?" Pyrrha mused, "Where do you get 100-million-year-old dinosaur blood?" Ozpin hushed them as the movie continued. On-screen Oz- the original one- stared at the pricked finger as a cartoonish spiral moved up out of his finger and behind his head. A vaguely anthropomorphic cartoon DNA strand tapped him on his right shoulder before zooming back to his left.**

" **What? What?" On-screen Oz spotted the cartoon and said, "Oh, Mr. DNA, where did you come from?"**

" **From your blood," he responded, his voice heavily accented, "Just one drop of your blood contains billions of strands of DNA, the building blocks of life," the screen switched to that of a blueprint, "A DNA strand, like me, is blueprint for building a living thing," his form shifted into a white, dashed line outline of a Brachiosaurus, "And sometimes, animals that went extinct millions of years ago, like dinosaurs, left their blueprints behind for us to find. We just had to know where to look."**

"Is it just me, or does he sound suspiciously like Serge?" Jaune said, confused.

"What, you mean from that Blue vs Red show by Chicken Jaw?" Ruby said.

"Yeah, that's the one."

"Mmm, kinda, I guess, but not as gruff."

 **A cartoon mosquito was shown on a grey, scaly background as Mr. DNA continued, "A hundred million years ago, there were mosquitos, just like today. And, just like today, they fed on the blood of animals. Even dinosaurs," a real life image of a mosquito being trapped in sap was shown, "Sometimes, after biting a dinosaur, the mosquito would land on the branch of a tree and get stuck in the sap," another cartoon of a pair of men digging to recover a chunk of amber appeared, "After a long time, the tree sap would get hard, and become fossilized, just like a dinosaur bone, preserving the mosquito inside," an image of a man carefully drilling into a chunk of amber appeared, "This fossilized tree sap, which we call amber, waited for millions of years with the mosquito inside until Jurassic Park scientists came along," having drilled a hole into the amber, the scientist stuck a needle it, "Using sophisticated techniques, they extract the preserved blood for the mosquito and bingo: dino DNA."**

"What do you make of it, Mom?" Ruby asked.

"Well, the logic itself is sound, but it still lies too far into the realm of pseudo-science."

"I guess you're right. It would take an unbelievable amount of amber, which is already limited by itself, plus you'd never know if you even had dinosaur blood, even if you did get some kind of blood-sucker."

 **Jaune, at this point, was leaning against a hand rail in front of him, drinking it in. Nora, having become more interested leaned forward as the explanation continued, "A full DNA strand contains three billions genetic codes," Mr. DNA appeared on an orange background with complicated black text zooming across the screen, "If we looked at screens like these," he indicated the text behind him, "Once a second, for eight hours a day, it'd take two years to look at the entire DNA strand. It's that long. Since it's so old-" he was hit by a zooming block of text and taken with it. He quickly reformed and continued, completely unfazed, "It's full of holes. Now that's where our geneticists take over."**

 **The screen showed a laboratory full of computers and workers, "Thinking machine super computers and gene sequencers break down the strand in minutes, and virtual reality displays shows our geneticists the gap in the DNA sequence. We use the complete DNA of a frog to fill the holes and complete the code. And now, we can create a baby dinosaur," The screen showed a cartoon egg hatch, revealing Mr. DNA as he morphed into a fully-grown sauropod. Music began playing that was a bit too immature.**

" **This score is only temporary," Ozpin explained, "It all has very dramatic music, of course. A whole march or something. It hasn't been written yet. Then of course, the tour moves on." He pushed a button on a remote and the hand rail came down to become a lap bar. The whole room began to move as the screen came up, revealing a large pane of glass in its place. As the room moved, its showed what appeared to be the genetics lab.**

" **Well lookie here," Mr. DNA's voice said, "Those hard-working cowpokes you see behind the glass…"**

" **This is overwhelming, Oz," Whitley said to Ozpin, "Are these characters autoerotica?"**

" **No, no, we don't have any animatronics here." Ozpin replied, ignoring the boys' slip of the tongue, "Those are the real miracle workers of Jurassic Park"**

"Auto-what?" Ruby said, confused.

"Ask again in three years sis." Yang said laughing at Weiss and Winter's matching facepalms.

"… **in unfertilized emu or ostritch eggs," Mr. DNA continued.**

 **Jaune, who had been paying attention to the science, spoke up, "Well, wait a minute, how do you interrupt the cellular mitosis?"**

" **Can we see the unfertilized eggs?" Pyrrha said eagerly.**

" **Shortly, shortly," Ozpin said, as Jaune began struggling against his restraints.**

" **Can't you stop these things?" he asked**

" **I'm sorry, sir, it's kind of a ride," Ozpin replied.**

 **Nora, looked at the two scientists and said, "Okay, one, two, three." Catching on quickly, Pyrrha and Jaune added their strength to Nora's and pushed the lap bar up and filed out.**

" **They can't do that," Whitley said in near disbelief. When the lap bar raised for him and Ozpin, he said, "Can they do that?"**

 **The doctors walked into the busy laboratory with Ozpin and Whitley in tow. The walls were pure white, as were the clothing of all the scientists. Some wore full jumpsuits, designed to dampen the build-up of static electricity. As they walked in, a familiar voice came over the PA system.**

" **A reminder; the boat for the mainland will be leaving at 1900 hours. All personnel be at the dock no later than 1845. No exceptions." Emerald said.**

"Hey, there I am!"

"Sounds like you're some sort of big-wig around there," Roman commented.

"Or a secretary," said Mercury, earning him a stomp on the foot. "Worth it."

 **Ozpin took the lead and walked over to a scientist with shoulder-length black hair with a pink streak, magenta eyes and one of the white jumpsuits. He was intently writing on a clipboard when Ozpin walked up behind him and patted his shoulder.**

"Renny, look! You're a scientist, just like you wanted to be as a kid!" Nora said, shaking her best friend/closet boyfriend.

"Really, Ren? You wanted to be a scientist?" Blake said, hiding her surprise.

"Originally, yes. But when Nora came and told me she was signing up for combat school to be a Huntress, I knew that I had to sign up as well just to keep her from getting expelled."

" **Good day, Ren." He said as he handed his cane and hat to a scientist and started to put on a pair of nitrile gloves.**

" **Oh, good day, sir," Ren said as he returned to his work.**

 **Jaune looked about the lab until his eye was caught by a table full of eggs. They looked like any other kind of bird's eggs, except for the fact that each one was about the size of a toy football. Attached to the table was a rudimentary robot arm that would occasionally turn the eggs.**

" **It's turning the eggs," Pyrrha said.**

 **Nora pointed to an egg that was standing up right and shaking. It was hatching. Jaune and Pyrrha noticed this and gathered around to watch.**

 **Dr. Ren noticed as well. "Ah, perfect timing," he said, "I'd hoped they'd hatch before I had to go to the boat."**

" **Ren, Ren, Ren, why didn't you tell me?" Ozpin said excitedly, "I insist on being here when they're born."**

 **The screen focused on the egg and it hatched, with Ozpin occasionally talking, giving it encouragement, "Come on. Come on. Come one, little one," he gave a grandfatherly chuckle, "Come on then. Come on then. Very good. Push, push. Very good," he smiled as the little creature finally made it through the egg.**

" **Oh, God," Pyrrha said, amazed.**

" **There you are." Ozpin said as he started to pull the bits of egg shell that were stuck to its head and face. The newborn dinosaur start to make little squeaks and squeals as he did so. "They imprint on the first creature they come in contact with. Helps them to trust me. I've been present for the birth of every little creature on this island."**

" **Surely not the ones that have bred in the wild?" Nora said.**

" **Actually, they can't breed in the wild," Ren said, joining them around the birthing table, "Population control is one of our security precautions. There's no unauthorized breeding in Jurassic Park."**

" **How do you know they can't breed?" Nora asked as Ozpin, Pyrrha and Jaune doted over the infant.**

" **Well, because all the animals in Jurassic Park are female. We've engineered them that way."**

"Nora doesn't look too happy, does she?" Ruby said concerned.

"Yeah, it's kinda weirding me out." Yang agreed.

 **As Nora paced around the table, Jaune asked, "Blood temperature seems like, about high 80s?"**

" **Ren?" Ozpin asked for clarification.**

" **91," he answered.**

" **Homeothermic?" Pyrrha asked for clarification, "It holds that temperature? That's incredible." Jaune took the remainder of the egg and began to examine it. However, just as he was beginning, the arm came around, took it from his hands and placed it back in the nest before swinging around into an waiting position.**

"Did I just get sassed by a robot?" Jaune said with a small chuckle.

"Looks like," Yang said with a wide grin.

" **But, again, how do you know they're all female?" Nora questioned Ren, "Does somebody go out and pull up the dinosaurs skirts?"**

"Nora!" Weiss yelled. Mercury was laughing his ass off, unaware of the glares that Cinder and Neo were giving him.

" **We control their chromosomes," Ren explained defensively, "It's really not that difficult. All vertebrate embryos are inherently female anyway. They just require an extra hormone given at the right developmental stage to make them male, and we simply deny them that."**

" **Deny them that?" Pyrrha asked skeptically.**

 **Nora took a seat, "Oz, the kind of control you're attempting here, it's not possible. If there's one thing the history of evolution has taught us, it's that life will not be contained. Life breaks free. It expands to new territories and it crashes through barriers, painfully, maybe even dangerously, but… Well, there it is."**

"I never thought I would hear something so insightful coming from Ms. Valkyrie of all people," Goodwitch commented.

"I'm surprised myself," said Ozcar.

Hearing this, Jaune and Ren gave each other knowing looks and shook their heads. They knew all too well just how mature and wise their bubbly, hyper little ginger could be when she wanted to be.

" **There it is." Ozpin said unconvinced.**

" **You're implying that a group composed entirely of female animals will breed?" Ren asked.**

" **No," Nora defended, "I'm simply saying that life finds a way."**

 **Jaune held the infant dinosaur carefully in his hands, marveling that at what he was seriously doing. Really, he was holding a baby dinosaur! In his own hands! He wondered… "What species is this?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.**

" **Oh," Ren replied, looking up from his clipboard, "It's a Velociraptor."**

 **Jaune's face hardened as he almost glared at the scientist, "You bred raptors?" His voice was as dark as his glare. Ren looked up and simply nodded, thinking he might have done something to upset the man. Jaune looked back down at the infant Velociraptor as it grasped at his fingers and squealed softly.**

"Well, that's fucking ominous," Roman quipped.

* * *

 **Welp, I'm tired and there's not much else to say. See you all next week.**

 **Next Update: 12/18/18**


	5. Chapter 5- Jurassic Park, Part 5

**Holy shit, guys. Four chapters in and we're already at 200 followers and favorites? I am, frankly, at a loss for words, so I'm just wait until the chapter is over before I say anything else. Yeah, I just need a sit...**

RWBY Watches Earth Movies

Chapter 5: Jurassic Park, Part 5

 **Jaune stood outside the holding pen from the beginning of the movie, looking up at it.**

" **Dr. Arc!" Ozpin called as he and the others walked up to the pen, "As I was saying, we laid on lunch for you before you set out into the park. Our gourmet chef, Alejandro- "**

" **What are they doing?" Jaune asked as a crane lifted a steer into the air.**

" **Oh, feeding them." As the steer lifted higher into the air, Ozpin tried to make Jaune come along, saying "Alejandro's prepared a delightful menu for us. Vacuoan sea bass, I believe. Shall we?"**

"Vacuoan sea bass?!" Blake said excitedly, her mouth starting to overflow with drool. She was saved from embarrassment when Yang reached over and closed her mouth for her. "Thank you."

"No prob, kitty."

"Well, if anything, the chef has excellent taste," Torchwick said. A few people looked up at him, surprised. "What? When you're a professional thief, you need to spend the money on something fast, or risk getting caught. Expensive food like that is always a good choice."

"Am I the only one worried about the cow?" Ruby said, tugging at the edge of her hood nervously.

 **The cow moved over to the pen as the group clambered up a staircase and onto a viewing platform. A gate in the top of the pen opened up as the steer was lowered into the pen and disappeared into the dense foliage. As the top gate slammed shut, the jungle erupted in growls, shrieks, and cries. The foliage moved incredibly fast, allowing those on the viewing platform to see the Raptors tear their lunch to pieces. Nora looked physically shook at what she had just seen, holding a hand over her chest to steady her breathing and the other clutching a railing to keep herself somewhat upright. Pyrrha had a sort-off grimace and Jaune looked on in stunned fascination until a gruff voice brought him back to Realityland.**

"Holy shit." Yang said quietly. She had seen some brutal things in her life, the Fall most prominent among them, but she could only imagine the brutality that was going on in that cage. Ruby clung to her mother, burying her face in her arm, as Summer tried to soothe her.

" **They should all be destroyed." Said Qrow as he walked up the stairs to the platform. He was wearing his usual garb, with Harbinger noticeably absent.**

" **Ah! Qrow Branwen, my game warden from Vale," Ozpin introduced him, "Bit of an alarmist I'm afraid, but he's one of the best Huntsmen I know and knows more about Raptors than anybody."**

 **Jaune immediately started asking him questions, as they both leaned back on railings, facing each other. "What kind of metabolism do they have? What's their growth rate?"**

" **They're lethal at eight months, and I do mean lethal. I've hunted most things that can hunt you, but the way these things move…"**

" **Fast for a biped?"**

" **Cheetah speed. Fifty, sixty miles an hour if they ever got out in the open, and they're astonishing jumpers."**

" **Yes. That's why we're taking extreme precautions." Ozpin tried to reassure everybody. He tried to show Pyrrha their security measures until they were interrupted when one of the Raptors made a brief shriek.**

" **Do they show intelligence?" Jaune asked Qrow, "Because their brain cavity- "**

" **They show extreme intelligence. Even problem-solving intelligent. Especially the big one. We bred eight originally but when she came in, she took over the pride and killed all but two of the others. That one," he paused to take a sip from his hip flask, "when she looks at you, you can see she's working things out. That's why we have to feed them like this. She had them all attacking the fences when the feeders came."**

" **The fences are electrified, right?" Pyrrha asked.**

" **That's right, but they never attack the same place twice. They were testing the fences for weaknesses, systematically. They remember." He said, as he took another sip from his flask. As he did, the crane started to raise the harness that held the steer. As it came up, the group saw that the harness was torn to pieces, shredded in some places.**

" **Yes, well, who's hungry?" Ozpin said, trying to lighten the mood.**

"And I thought we were well off with the monsters we have." Ozcar said.

"Sir?" Glynda asked.

"Imagine what life is like right now, only having to deal with the Grimm." He replied.

"Okay…" Glynda replied, not quite following.

"Now imagine what life would be like if we had to deal with a population of those things, in addition to the Grimm."

"Oh."

"I'll do you one better." Qrow said.

"What's that?"

"Imagine if Salem had a few of those under her control." The room was deathly silent at the thought.

 **A plate of fish fillets was placed in front of Pyrrha, who didn't have much of an appetite after what she saw at the Raptor pen. Everyone was seated around a black stone table with a series of projection screens behind them cycling through ads for different rides as a recording of Ozpin described each one.**

Blake started drooling again.

" **None of these attractions are ready yet, of course," said Ozpin, "But the park will open with the basic tour you're about to take. And then other rides will come online, six or twelve months after that. Absolutely spectacular design. We spared no expense."**

" **And we can charge whatever we want," Whitley chimed in, "Two-thousand a day, ten-thousand, and people will pay. And then there's the merchandise- "**

"And there it is again." Weiss said, exasperated.

"You're not going to enjoy this movie much as long as he's in it, are you?" Winer asked

"Pretty much."

"Yeah, we definitely need to talk later."

" **Whitley," Ozpin interrupted, "This park was not built to cater only to the super-rich. Everyone in the world has the right to enjoy these animals."**

" **Sure, they will. We'll have a coupon day, or something." Whitley joked, Oz joining in on it.**

"Great, and now there's two of them."

" **Gee, the lack of humility before nature that's being displayed here... staggers me." Nora said quietly.**

" **Thank you, Dr. Valkyrie, but I think things are a little different than you and I had feared."**

" **Yeah, I know, they're a lot worse."**

" **Now, wait a minute, we haven't even seen the park yet- "**

" **Whitley, let her talk." Ozpin interrupted, "There's no reason, I want to hear every viewpoint, I really do."**

" **Don't you see the danger inherent in what you're doing here, Oz?" Nora questioned, "I mean, genetic power is the most awesome force the world has seen since the harnessing of Dust, but you wield it like a kid who's found his dad's gun."**

" **It's hardly appropriate to start hurling- "Whitley said before Nora cut him off again.**

" **If I may, if I may, um, I'll tell you problem with the scientific power you're using here: it didn't require any discipline to attain it. Okay? You read what others had done, and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you even knew what you had, you patented it, and packaged it, and you slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now you want to sell it. You're going to sell it."**

"She's right, you know." Glynda pointed out.

"She is?" Weiss asked.

"I am?" Nora asked.

"It's the same in real life. Each and every one of you spent years in a combat school, training your fighting skills, your Auras and your Semblances to become the highly skilled fighters you are today. Well, with a few exceptions." She said with a point look towards Blake and Jaune, "And in that time, you became, not only skilled, but also disciplined enough to not abuse those skills."

 **Ozpin was shaking his head in disappointment, "I don't think you're giving us our due credit. Our scientists have done things which nobody has ever done before." He said.**

" **Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they never stopped to ask if they should!"**

" **Condors. Condors are on the verge of extinction- "**

" **No, no, no…" Nora groaned. He was missing the point.**

" **No, if I was to create a flock of condors on this island, you wouldn't have anything to say."**

" **No, hold on, this isn't some species that was obliterated by deforestation, or by an increase in Grimm numbers. Dinosaurs had their shot, and nature selected them for extinction."**

" **I simply don't understand this Luddite attitude, especially from a scientist. I mean, how can we stand in the light of discovery, and not act?"**

" **Oh, what's so great about discovery? It's a violent, penetrative act that scars what it explores. What you call discovery, I call the rape of the natural world." Nora said with a smug grin.**

"Welp, there's an image. Thanks Nora." Blake said.

" **Well, the question is how can you now anything about an extinct ecosystem?" Pyrrha said hoping to diffuse the tension in the air by changing the subject, "And therefore, how could you ever assume that you can control it? I mean, you have plants in building that are poisonous. You pick them because they look good, but these are aggressive livings things that have no idea what century they're in and they will defend themselves. Violently, if necessary."**

"It's astounding how often people forget that about Nature." Said Ozcar.

 **Ozpin, looked about, amazed that so few people were with him. "Doctor Arc," he said, "If there's one person here who can appreciate what I'm trying to do…"**

 **Jaune took in a breath before voicing his thoughts. Ozpin was not going to like what he had to say.**

" **The world has just changed so radically, and we're all running to catch up. I don't want to jump any conclusions, but look, dinosaurs and man. Two species separated by 65 million years of evolution have suddenly just been thrown back into the mix together. How can we possibly have the slightest idea what to expect?"**

" **I don't believe it," Ozpin said with a chuckle, "I don't believe it. You're meant to come down here and defend me against these characters, and the only one I've got on my side is the blood-sucking lawyer. Ha!"**

" **Thank you," Whitley said, taking it as a compliment of his abilities as a lawyer. A older gentleman walked over to Ozpin and began whispering in his ear, making a smile break out on his face.**

"Of course he'd take it as a compliment," Weiss giggled.

"Hey, Ice Queen Sr, is that a smirk I see?" Qrow called.

"Silence, you!" Winter said, throwing her popcorn at him.

"That's a yes."

" **Well," he said, standing up, "They're here."**

 **As the group descended into the main lobby of the visitor's center, Ozpin was talking, again.**

" **You four are going to have a spot company out in the park," he said, "Spend a little time with our 'target audience'."**

" **Grandpa!" a pair of young girls said, running up to Ozpin. The older one had blonde hair, worn in two pigtails over either shoulder. She had an orange scarf around her neck, a tan blouse with a dark orange belt, black shorts, and brown shoes. The younger one, also somehow the faster one, had short black hair tinted red at the tips. She wore a red sleeveless hoodie with a matching cape, a black skirt and black sneakers.**

"Oh my Gods! Look at how smol you guys are!" Nora cried

"Oh, Gods, look at how awful my hair looks." Yang said, stroking her beloved mane.

"Hey! I resent that," Summer said, "I did your hair like that because you looked adorable."

"Mom, I was seven. I looked adorable no matter what. Now, with this," she ran her hand through her hair, "and this figure, I had men wrapped around my little finger back at Beacon."

"Except for the two literally right across the hall." Ruby quipped.

"They don't count. They were spoken for."

"Damn straight!" Nora said, laying her head on Ren's shoulder.

" **Kids!" Ozpin called, holding his arms out. The girls ran up the stairs two at a time, and hug-tackled him, causing him to fall backward, "Oh, hey, careful with me!"**

" **We missed you!" Yang said excitedly.**

" **Thanks for the presents!" Ruby said with an ear-to-ear smile.**

" **We loved the presents!"**

" **Good, good, did you enjoy the helicopter?" Ozpin asked. As the kids dived into their exciting retelling of their trip, the camera panned up to look at the adults. Pyrrha was smiling with amusement. Jaune looked at her, just knowing that she was going to use this against him. Nora's expression was neutral, almost like she had seen this before. Whitley wore a look of exasperation, as if he already knew what he was going to be doing today.**

* * *

 **So, yeah, Ruby and Yang are playing Tim and Lex respectively. Surprising absolutely nobody, I'm sure. It may be somewhat unoriginal, but I say it fits, so there.**

 **On a more serious note, I want to say thank you so, so much, for all of your continued support. When I started this fic, I had hoped it would get at least some followers, 50 at most. But you guys, you beautiful sons of bitches and daughters of bastards... There is no word in any language on this planet, dead or alive, that can accurately express how thankful I am that you even consider reading this worthy of your time. Thank you so much.**

 **On that note, i must inform you that there will be no post next week because Christmas. I happen to have that day off, and I believe I will be spending the time I would normally spending finalizing and posting this at my Uncle's place, where I won't have internet access. Please see below for the schedule of the next update, don't forget to Follow, Favorite, and Review, and have a happy holiday and a merry Christmas. Old Wolf, out.**

 **Next Update: January 1, 2019!**


	6. Chapter 6- Jurassic Park, Part 6

**Happy New Year, my lovely readers! May 2019 be less shitty than its predecessor. Wishful thinking, I know, but a man can dream.**

 **Anyway, I'm back from my break, rested and ready to go. So, let's get to it!**

RWBY Watches Earth Movies

Chapter 6: Jurassic Park, Part 6

 **As the group exited the visitor's center, their new charges in tow, a pair of red, green and yellow SUVs pulled up alongside. They had glass sunroofs, a trio of lights on top, and, most curiously of all, no drivers. The kids were extremely excited, and Ozpin had to try to keep them from being accidentally run over. As soon as they stopped, Yang climbed in one and started looking around.**

" **Aren't they lovely? Aren't they glorious? These will be your transports for the afternoon." Oz said proudly.**

" **No drivers?" Whitley asked, somewhat confused.**

" **No. No drivers. They're electric. They run on this track in the middle of the roadway. Totally non-polluting, top of the line. We spared no expense."**

" **It's an interactive CD-ROM!" Yang said excitedly as she messed with the touch screen on the dash, "See? You just push the right part of the screen and it talks about whatever you want."**

" **Yang, darling, you're alright in there," Ozpin said, directing traffic, "Dr. Nikos, come with me. Dr. Arc, come in the second car."**

" **I'm gonna ride with Dr. Nikos." Nora said, trying to sound casual.**

"Yeesh, Pinky," Torchwick said, "Could you be any more obvious?"

"Really? That the best nickname you could come up with?" Nora said, expertly deflecting his comment.

"I'm with her Boss. That one was kinda weak." Neo's sign read.

"Traitor." Torchwick grumbled.

 **Ozpin had already begun ascending the staircase back into the visitor's center by the time Jaune had started back toward the rear car. He stopped when he noticed Ruby in his way. She looked up at him with recognition and slight admiration.**

" **I read your book." She said.**

" **Oh, that's- that's great." He replied stiffly.**

" **Do you really think dinosaurs turned into birds and that's where they all went?"**

" **Well, a few species may have evolved along those lines." He grunted as he climbed into the car, Ruby hot on his heels.**

" **Cuz they sure don't look like birds to me." Ruby said with a chuckle. Jaune looked to Pyrrha for help, but he saw that she was enjoying this, so he got back out of the car, knowing Ruby would follow. "I heard that there was this meteor that hit the Earth someplace down in southern Vale, and made this big crater- "**

" **Listen…" Jaune interrupted, pausing to try and remember the girl's name.**

" **Ruby." She finished for him.**

" **Ruby, which car were you planning on?"**

" **Whichever one you are." She replied.**

"Well, seems you're as persistent as ever, Little Red." Torchwick said.

"She always was, even at that age." Summer said with a smile.

"I get it from my mother." Ruby sassed, causing Summer to ruffle her hair.

 **Taking this into account, Jaune formulated a plan. He started walking towards the lead car and held the door open for Ruby, acting like a total gentleman, Ruby talking the whole way, "Then I heard about this thing in** _ **Omni,**_ **about this meteor making all this heat and it made a bunch of diamond dust. And that changed the weather. And they died because of the weather. And then my teacher tells about this other book by a guy named Winchester. And he says- "at the mention of his rival, Cardin Winchester, Jaune closed the door on Ruby and turned back to the other car, only to see Yang standing before him, messing with one of her ponytails and smiling.**

" **She said I should ride with you cuz it'd be good for you." Yang said innocently.**

 **Jaune looked up and saw Pyrrha in the front seat of the second car laughing to herself. So that was how she wanted to play, was it?**

 **In the control room, Qrow led Ozpin in, briefing him on a weather report he had just received.**

" **National Weather Service is tracking a tropical storm, about 75 miles west of us." Qrow said, taking a quick swing from his flask.**

" **Ay yay, yay, yay, why didn't I build in Mistral?" Ozpin said to himself, but loud enough for all to hear.**

" **I'll keep an eye on it," Qrow assured him, "Maybe it'll swing south, like the last one."**

 **Ozpin patted a dark-skinned technician on the shoulder. The hair gave her away immediately. Anyone there would have recognized that hair color and style anywhere. "Emerald," he said, "Start the tour program."**

 **Emerald swung around in her chair and began furiously typing on a keyboard. She was wearing a button-up shirt with the top two buttons undone and tucked into black slacks underneath a white lab coat. In her mouth was a lit cigarette, which seemed fairly new as very little of it was ash.**

 **"Hold onto your butts." She said, more as a personal ritual than anything else. A final line of code, and the program began.**

"So, Em," Mercury said, breaking away from his soda, "What do you think your role in all this is?"

"Well, at the very least I'm not a secretary, thankfully. Maybe I'm a chief operator of the park?"

"Whatever it is," Cinder said, "You at least know exactly what you're doing, and it's clear that Ozpin trusts you explicitly." 'Perhaps we should have tried this tactic to overthrow Shade.' She thought to herself.

 **Outside, Whitley was in the driver's seat of the lead car with Yang and Ruby in the back talking excitedly to each other, while Jaune, Nora and Pyrrha were in the rear car with Pyrrha alone in the front. As the cars began to move, little snippets of dialogue were heard.**

" **You want to join the future, right?" Whitley said.**

" **Oh, Oum help us, we're in the hands of engineers." Nora said sarcastically.**

 **As the cars moved along the bumpy trail, a voice came over the radio system, saying, "During most of your tour, the appropriate information will be automatically selected and displayed for you. Simply touch the area of the screen displaying the appropriate icon."**

 **Ruby leaned over the driver's seat and looked ahead, seeing a massive gateway made of a dark stone arch with torches set in and wooden doors. "Hey, look!"**

" **Are we gonna hit that?" Yang asked.**

" **Welcome to Jurassic Park!" the computer voice said.**

 **As the cars passed through the gate, Nora looked up and joked, "What have they got in there, Grimm Kong?"**

"Damn, that's an old reference." Yang said, ignoring her mother's look about her language, "Just how old is this you, Nora?"

"Dunno. Maybe my mid-thirties, I hope."

"Doesn't that guy on the recording kinda sound like Professor Port?" Ruby said

"Not pompous enough." Commented Jaune.

"Mr. Arc!" Goodwitch looked scandalized

"Now, Glynda, you have to admit that he's not entirely wrong." Ozcar said.

 **Back in the control room, Ozpin was at a computer terminal wearing a headset. He entered a short line of code, and the interior of the lead car came on screen. "The voice you're now hearing is Ryan Haywood." He said, "We spared no expense."**

 **Back with the cars, they were passing through a dense jungle with electric fences on either side, as Mr. Haywood began speaking again.**

" **If you look to the right, you'll see a herd of the first dinosaurs on our tour, called Dilophosaurus."**

" **Dilophosaurus?!" Jaune said, quickly looking out the window.**

" **Shit!" Pyrrha exclaimed, mirroring Jaune's enthusiasm.**

"Ruby?" Yang said, looking to her little sister for information.

"Dilophosaurus," Ruby said almost mechanically, "Carnivore, early Jurassic period. Name roughly translates to 'two-crested lizard'. Averages about 20 feet long and five to six feet tall, weighing a little under 900 lbs. Pretty much tiptoes the line between a large and medium-sized therapod."

"Thank you."

" **One of the earliest carnivores," Mr. Haywood explained, "We now know that Dilophosaurus is actually poisonous, spitting it's venom at it's prey, causing blindness and, eventually, paralysis, allowing the animal to eat at it's leisure. This makes Dilophosaurus a beautiful, but deadly addition to Jurassic Park."**

"That's interesting." Ruby said, leaning forward, "There's never been any evidence of that."

"Makes sense, if you think about it." Summer said, "Venom sacs aren't made of bone, so they would have decayed long before the bones had fully fossilized."

 **Everyone stared out the sides of the cars as they rolled by, trying to get a glimpse of the dinosaurs Haywood was talking about. Even Yang was struggling against Ruby to get a good look, but there was nothing to see but more jungle and high fences.**

" **Jaune," Pyrrha said, "Where?"**

 **Jaune's face simply crinkled into a frown as the cars passed their last chance to see into the paddock and he slammed a hand into the door, conceding defeat. "Damn."**

 **Back in the control room, Emerald was rapping a pencil against a computer screen, "Vehicle headlights are on and they're not responding." She said, running off the error and adding it to her list, "Those shouldn't be running off car batteries. Item 151 on today's glitch list. We have all the problems of a major theme park and a major zoo, and the computers aren't even on their feet yet." She took a drag from her cigarette, which had considerably shortened.**

 **Ozpin turned to the man who sat before a trio of computer screens in a lab coat. If anything, his workplace resembled a nest more than anything else, with food and drink containers, candy bar wrappers, assorted papers, and what appeared to be a barely hidden lewd magazine scattered about and around his desk.**

" **Mercury," he said, "Our lives are in your hands and you have butterfingers?"**

"Hey, there I am!"

"Is that a PlayFaunus magazine I see on your desk?" Emerald said.

"Looks like it. Never pegged you for that kind of a guy, kid." Roman commented.

"Eh, what can I say? I appreciate the female form. Racial distinctions are lost on me."

"Am I the only one offended by the fact that he has that…thing?" Weiss asked.

"What, sister? A porno mag?" said Winter. Weiss looked scandalized that her older sister, her idol, could even utter the words. "This, dear sister, is one of the downsides of being a part of a unisex team. You lack any true understanding of what the opposite sex is like until you have had to live with them."

"What about Whitley?"

"Not the same. He has his own room in a multi-million lien mansion that could easily house every person in this theater. Your team's sister team is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Am I correct, Ms. Valkyrie?"

"It's true Weiss." Nora confirmed, "You should have seen Pyrrha turn redder than her hair when we accidentally found Jaune's stash one time. Man, did he get an ear-beating from Pyrrha."

"Okay, but I somewhat expected that of Arc. Surely, Ren wouldn't have something like that."

"Of course not. He's more into hentai."

" _If we're quite finished talking about people's porn preferences, let us continue with the movie."_

 **Mercury laughed as he turned around in his chair, "I am totally unappreciated in my time. You can run this whole park from this room with minimal staff for up to three days. You think that kind of automation is easy?" He took a sip of his cola "Or cheap? You know anyone who can network eight connection machines and debug 2 million lines of code for what I bid for this job? Cuz if you do, then I'd love to see them try."**

" **I'm sorry about your financial problems, Mercury, I really am, but they are your problems."**

" **Oh, you're right, Oz, you're absolutely right. You know, everything's my problem."**

" **I will not be drawn into another financial debate with you, Mercury. I really will not."**

" **There's hardly been any debate at all."**

 **Ozpin fixed Mercury with a firm look he had used on his kids, "I don't blame people for their mistakes. But I do ask that they pay for them."**

" **Thanks, Dad." Mercury said sarcastically.**

"Well, now we know why I picked you to infiltrate the Park." Torchwick said.

"Unfortunately, I have to agree." Weiss said, with Winter nodding beside her.

"What'cha mean, Weiss Cream?" Yang asked.

"Obviously, Mercury, hard as it is to believe, designed the computer code that runs that entire park."

"And at some point after he finished," Torchwick continued, "Ozpin short-changed him and caught him in a legal loophole. This has him angry at his employer, which makes him very easily tempted. It's a delicate balance of business sense and understanding human behavior."

"Basically, don't fuck with engineers."

" **Merc," Emerald said before Ozpin could retort, "The headlights."**

" **Yeah, I'll debug the tour program when they get back, alright?" Mercury said. Emerald's look indicated his answer wasn't enough for her. "Okay?! It'll eat a lot of compute cycles. We'll lose part of the system for a while. There's a finite amount of memory, you can't use it for everything. Are you gonna compile for half an hour- "**

" **Quiet! All of you!" yelled Qrow, who had been there the whole time, patiently watching the security feeds, paying extra attention to the Velociraptor pen, when he looked up and saw the current position of the tour vehicles, "They're approaching the Tyrannosaur paddock."**

 **The cars pulled out of a tunnel and came down a small hill before stopping before a long stretch of fence and more jungle. Jaune, who had crawled into the trunk of the car he was in, so everybody could see properly, looked out and saw a whole lot of nothing. Just like the with Dilophosaurs, the jungle was silent, save for the occasional bout of chirping birds.**

 **Nora chuckled to herself and began ticking off her fingers, saying, "God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaurs."**

" **Dinosaurs eat man," Pyrrha said, "Woman inherits Remnant." Nora started laughing while Jaune gave her a knowing look as she stared out the window, trying to see if there was something, anything, that she was missing.**

" **We'll try to tempt the Rex now," Emerald's voice said over the radio, "Keep watching the fence."**

 **On cue, a small cage rose from the ground, inside of which was a goat, tethered to a metal post by a chain and collar.**

" **What's gonna happen to him?" Ruby said, somewhat confused. As the cage came down, she put the pieces together, "He's gonna eat the goat?"**

" **Excellent." Commented Yang.**

" **What's the matter kid?" Whitley said, keeping his eyes forward, "You never had lamb chops?"**

" **Well, yeah, but…"**

 **In the other car, Jaune watched the scene unfold, with low-key disgust. "T-rex doesn't wanna be fed. He wants to hunt. You can't just suppress 65 million years of gut instinct."**

 **Sensing it was not in any danger just yet, the goat laid down. Everyone in the cars took this as a sign that nothing was going to be happening anytime soon, and so sat back and waited for the tour to continue.**

 **In the control room, Ozpin sat at his desk with his head resting in one hand while his other lazily typed a line of code, bringing up the interior camera of the rear car. Coincidentally, it was around this time that Nora decided it would be very funny to make fun of him by getting really close to the camera and start talking to it.**

" **Now, eventually you do plan to have dinosaurs on your dinosaur tour, right? Hello? Hello? Yes?"**

" **I really hate that woman." Ozpin sighed as he put his other hand under his head.**

"I'm with Nora," Ruby said with a pout, "So far this has been the most boring tour of a DINOSAUR THEME PARK ever."

 **Nora sat back down next to Jaune, who had climbed back into a proper seat, as the cars began to drive away from the dense jungle and into what appeared to be vast plains.**

" **See the Tyrannosaur doesn't obey any set patterns, or park schedules. The essence of chaos." She said, groaning as she sat back down.**

" **I'm still not clear on chaos."**

" **Oh, it simply deals with unpredictability in complex systems." Nora explained, "The short hand is the Butterfly Effect. A butterfly could flap it's wings in Vacuo and in Atlas you get rain instead of sunshine."**

" **Nnnyooom!" Pyrrha said, bringing her hand over her head.**

" **Ah. Did I go too fast?" Nora said, messing with Pyrrha's hair playfully, "I went too fast. I did a fly-by. Give me that glass of water." She indicated one of the small cups on the dashboard, "We're gonna conduct an experiment. We should be still, the car's bouncing up and down, but that doesn't really matter, it's just an example. Now, put you hand flat, like a hieroglyph." As she got Pyrrha into the proper position, Jaune noticed something out in the field. It looked like there was a vehicle out there, identical to the Jeeps they had ridden in to get to the visitor's center.**

 **Nora continued her experiment with Pyrrha, saying "Now, let's say a drop of water falls on your hand. Which way's the drop going to roll off? Towards your fingers or your thumb or your wrist?"**

" **Thumb, I'd say." Said Pyrrha.**

 **Nora dipped her middle finger into the water and let a drop of water fall onto the knuckle of Pyrrha's middle finger. The drop ran off her hand toward her wrist. "Aha! Okay," Nora said, taking note of what had happened, "Now, freeze your hand. Don't move. I'll do the same thing, start with the same place again. Which way's it going to roll off?"**

" **Let's say, back the same way."**

" **Same way?" Nora confirmed as she repeated the process. This time the drop rolled down between Pyrrha's fingers. "Ah, ah. It changed. Why?" Nora said, taking Pyrrha's hand and rubbing it softly, "Because tiny variations, the orientation of hairs on your hand- "**

" **Jaune, look at this."**

" **-The amount of blood distending your vessels, imperfections in the skin- "**

" **Imperfections in the skin?" Pyrrha said coyly.**

" **Microscopic. But they never repeat and vastly affect the outcome. That's, what?"**

" **Unpredictability." Pyrrha finished. As she did, Jaune opened the car door and stepped out, walking into the field.**

" **See? See?" Nora said excitedly, "I'm right again. No one could have predicted that Dr. Arc would suddenly jump out of a moving vehicle."**

" **Jaune! Jaune~!" Pyrrha called after him, following his lead.**

" **And there's another example." Nora said aloud, laughing to herself, "See, here I am now by myself, talking to myself. That's Chaos Theory."**

"Anyone else find it really ironic that Nora of all people is preaching about chaos and unpredictability?" Blake said.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Nora said indignantly. Teams RWBY, J_R, Qrow and Glynda fixed her with a deadpan stare. "Okay, point taken." She said sliding down in her seat. Ren couldn't help but chuckle and rubbed her head comfortingly.

* * *

 **This chapter was fun to write. A lot of witty banter and light humor is something I can handle. Drama? Eh, not so much. Also, some of you guys have been asking for longer chapters, so I'm trying to accommodate. Now, I'm not gonna be doing Couer Al' Aran length chapters of 5k+ words, but it will be at least 2k+.**

 **Anyway, have a good New Year, and see you next week.**

 **Next Update: 1/8/19**


	7. Chapter 7- Jurassic Park, Part 7

**And we're back baby! This is honestly my favorite day of the week, so let's not waste any more time and dive straight in!**

RWBY Watches Earth Movies

Chapter 7: Jurassic Park, Part 7

 **Back in the control room, things were getting a bit crazy. There was an alarm going off because people had exited the cars, Ozpin was telling Emerald to stop the tour program, which she was doing as fast as she could, and Qrow was going on about they should have put locks on the car doors. The one person not losing their shit was Mercury, who was sitting at his terminal and appearing to be doing actual work. Which he was, kind of. He had accessed the security cameras and had a few feeds on-screen. Notably, he had brought up the camera for the embryo cold storage room and for the east dock, where the boat was loading and unloading supplies. Nearby sat his can of shaving cream.**

'What are you up to, Mercury?' thought Blake. She had remained mostly silent, trying to figure out the plot from her literary experience.

 **Back in the field, the group had entered the park, Jaune leading and with the kids quick behind him. Ruby had just run up to start talking to him, picking up where they had left off.**

" **So, like I was saying, there was this other book by a guy named Winchester, and he says the dinosaurs died from a bunch of diseases, he definitely didn't say they turned into birds."**

" **Where are we going?" Pyrrha asked, "Did you see something?"**

" **Uh, is there anyone else who thinks we shouldn't be out here?" Whitley said nervously.**

" **And his book was a lot fatter than yours," Ruby said, "It was like this." She showed him, holding his book up for comparison.**

" **Really?" Jaune said, somewhat annoyed.**

" **Yours was fully illustrated." Pyrrha chimed in, knowing he didn't like discussing Cardin in any way.**

 **Yang, who had been walking next to him, tripped and fell on a rock. Jaune grabbed her elbow to help her up. "You okay?" he asked. She nodded and slipped her hand down to grab his. Jaune tried to escape her grasp while Ruby pestered him to watch what she was doing. Pyrrha saw this, and stuck her tongue out at him impishly until a low bellowing made everyone stop in their tracks.**

"The fuck was that?" Yang asked, receiving a light smack upside her head from her mother.

"Don't know. Never heard anything like it." said Ruby.

'I have.' Summer thought. It reminded her of the beast that had nearly claimed her on a hunt in Mistral back in her Team STRQ days.

" **Everybody stay here." Jaune said as Yang finally released his hand. He walked off into a field of waist-high grass. Not two seconds later, Ruby followed him, ignoring Pyrrha and Yang's protests. She followed Jaune's path through the grass and came upon a sight that made her gasp.**

" **Woah!" she said quietly. It was a fully-grown Triceratops- or she thought it was at least, it was huge to her eyes. It was lying on it's side, breathing heavily through its mouth, where its tongue was hanging out. Standing next to it were Jaune and a man with green hair and large round sunglasses. They spoke briefly before Jaune reached out and touched the beast, rubbing his hands along it's frill.**

"Is that Professor Oobleck?" Weiss asked in surprise.

"Doctor Oobleck, Ms. Schnee." Glynda reminded her. They might not be her students anymore, but they should still respect the title he bore.

" **Don't be scared." Oobleck said, "It's quite alright. Mr. Branwen tranquilized her for me. She's rather sick, I'm afraid."**

 **Pyrrha approached, absolutely stunned. She knelt beside its' snout, practically on the verge of tears she was so happy. "Oh my god." Jaune knelt next to her, moving around towards the stomach. Even Ruby had joined in, rubbing it on the frill and one of the horns. Meanwhile, Whitley and Yang stood off to the side, amazed at the sight before them.**

" **She was always my favorite when I was a kid," Jaune said to Pyrrha, "And now I see she's the most beautiful thing I ever saw."**

"My favorite too!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Said the girl who changed her favorite every time she found out new stuff about a different one." Yang teased, "Hey, Dad, what was her record for longest favorite again?"

"Brachiosaurus, standing at four months, which was then replaced by the entire Sauropod family once she found out about the larger members." Taiyang said without missing a beat.

"If this is what she was like before her weapons obsession," Weiss quietly said to Winter, "Quite a few things about her suddenly make a lot more sense."

 **Pyrrha beamed at him in agreement before she looked down and noticed something; what looked like some kind of lump on it's tongue. She reached into it's mouth to inspect it, causing the beast to let out a soft bellow. Pyrrha soothed it before she reached in and pinched the lump, causing a sort of puss to burst forth. "Microvesicles. That's interesting." She said with obvious disgust. Oobleck walked over and handed her a small flashlight. "What are her symptoms?" she asked.**

" **Imbalance, disorientation, labored breathing. Seems to happen about every six weeks or so." He said and Pyrrha began to inspect the beast's eyes. Jaune, meanwhile, had placed his ear to the dinosaur's stomach and was listening to it breathe. It was then that Pyrrha noticed something about the dinosaur's eyes. Normally, when an animal was tranquilized, the eyes would become constricted. However,…**

" **These are dilated." Pyrrha said, shining her flashlight in the dinosaur's other to show Dr. Oobleck.**

" **Really?" he looked at them and was convinced.**

" **That's pharmacological. From local plant life." Pyrrha said to herself. She got up and started to scan around for anything that may have caused such an effect. Her search brought her to some nearby bushes that had lilac colored berries on them, along with small piles of smooth stones. "Is this West Mistralian lilac?" she asked as Nora walked over behind her.**

" **Indeed. We know it's toxic, but the animals don't eat them." Oobleck confirmed.**

" **You're sure?"**

" **Very much so."**

"I think I know where this is going and we are not going to like it." Blake said.

" **Well, there's only one way to be positive," Pyrrha said, turning around, "I'd have to see the dinosaur's droppings."**

" **Dino-droppings? Droppings?" Nora said.**

" **Yeah."**

"Yup, there it is." Blake confirmed with a look of nausea.

"I don't get it." Nora said.

"Just keep watching."

 **In the control room, Qrow was on the phone with Ozpin and Emerald alongside him. They were all looking at a computer showing a meteorological model of a large storm.**

" **Yep. Yeah, I got that," he said into the phone, before covering the receiver with his shoulder, "That storm center hasn't dissipated or changed course. Looks like we're gonna have to cut the tour short. Pick up tomorrow where we left off."**

" **Are you sure we have to?" Ozpin said.**

" **It's not worth the risk, Oz." Emerald chimed in as Qrow went back to the phone, confirming details.**

" **Tell them when they get back in the cars." Ozpin ordered.**

 **Emerald turned to the control room, "Ladies and gentlemen, last shuttle leaving for the dock leaves in approximately five minutes. Drop what you're doing and leave now."**

" **Damn!" Ozpin said angrily, slamming his cane on the ground.**

 **Out in the field, Nora had shed her jacket, rolled up the sleeves of her black shirt and was sauntering up to a large brown mound with flies buzzing around it. she took off her dark sunglasses and said, "That is one big pile of shit."**

"Oh, God." Said Weiss, finally piecing together what Blake was talking about. "Oh, no, no, no."

 **Meanwhile, Pyrrha was busy digging through a smaller mound nearby, thankfully wearing rubber gloves that came up to her biceps.**

The entire theater erupted with cries of disgust, mostly from the assembled teenagers. Ruby, Yang and Summer covered each others eyes. Weiss covered her mouth in an attempt to prevent herself from vomiting, while Winter, Blake, Ilia, and the adults just grimaced through it. Even the Villains section was affected.

"Oh, God," Torchwick said, "I think I'm gonna be sick."

"SPEW INCOMING!" Neo's sign said. A bucket appeared in Roman's hands right as he began to puke. Neo flipped her sign around, smiling, and began rubbing her boss' back with her free hand. "Thank You, Wolf Guy!"

" **You're right, there's no trace of lilac berries." She said to Dr. Oobleck, "That's so odd though." She began talking to herself as she wracked her brain for some sort of answer. "Alright, she's suffering from** _ **Melia**_ **toxicity every six weeks..."**

 **As she began to walk back towards the Triceratops, Nora turned to Jaune and said, "She's tenacious."**

" **You have no idea." Jaune said back.**

" **You will remember to wash your hands before you eat anything?" Nora yelled at Pyrrha, jokingly.**

"You'd think that would be a friggin' given, you know?" Weiss said.

 **Mercury rapidly typed in a line of code, causing an icon to light up on his screen that said "Execute?"**

"Uh oh." Blake said to herself, her literary senses going off in her head.

 **Thunder cracked overhead, startling Whitley and causing Yang to just look around, almost unbothered.**

" **Doctors, if you please," he said, "I have to insist that we get moving."**

 **Jaune and Pyrrha stood up, turning their attention away from the dinosaur.**

" **You know, if it's alright, I'd like to stay with Dr. Oobleck and finish up with the Trike." Pyrrha said, eager to spend more time with the beautiful creature, "If, you know-"**

" **Of course, of course," Oobleck interrupted, "I'm in a gas-powered Jeep. I can drop her off at the visitor's center before I make the boat with the others."**

" **Great. Then I'll catch up with you if you wanna go on." She said to Jaune.**

" **You sure?"**

" **Yeah, I want to stay with her a little longer."**

 **As Pyrrha knelt besides the 'Trike' Yang walked over and, almost bodily, pulled her sister away from the dinosaur while the others began making their way back to the cars. Meanwhile, the storm intensified.**

"Something tells me that shit is about to hit the fan." Yang deadpanned.

 **Mercury looked at the recording he had of the East Dock and the man who spoke into the phone.**

" **There's nothing I can do." He said as the surf washed over the dock, "The captain says we gotta go, we gotta go."**

" **No, no, listen, you gotta give me the time." Mercury pleaded into his headset, "I did a test run on this thing and it took me twenty minutes. I thought I could maybe push it to eighteen, but you gotta at least give me fifteen minutes. Give the fifteen minutes."**

" **No promises," the sailor said before he hung up the phone. Mercury looked up at the three remaining individuals and sighed.**

" **Visitor vehicles are returning to the garage." Emerald reported.**

" **So much for our first tour," Ozpin mused while idly toying with his cane, "Two no-shows and one sick Triceratops."**

" **It could have been worse, Oz. A lot worse."**

" **Anybody want a soda or something?" Mercury said, getting up from his desk, "I'm going up to the machine. I thought maybe I'd get somebody something, cuz I've had all these sweets and I'm gonna get something salty to off set it. Any takers?" Silence followed. "Oh, real quick, I finished debugging the phones." he began zipping up his jacket, "You should probably know that the system is gonna be compiling for about 20 minutes so some of the minor systems will switch on or off, but it's nothing out of the ordinary."**

 **Seeing Emerald acknowledge him, he turned to his computer and clicked on the red "Execute?" icon. It automatically closed the majority of his windows and brought up a built-in stopwatch program. He synchronized his watch with the computer stopwatch and turned to leave.**

"He's making his move." Weiss said.

"With his usual amount of arrogant calm." Emerald chimed in.

 **The cars, meanwhile, were moving through the jungle back towards the visitor's center, rain pouring down in sheets. The girls were with Whitley once again in the lead car, while Jaune and Nora took up the front seats of the rear car.**

" **You got any kids?" Jaune asked almost randomly.**

" **Me? Oh, hell yeah. Three. I love kids." Nora responded before taking a swig from a flask. "Anything at all can and does happen. Same with wives, for that matter." She offered the flask to Jaune.**

" **You're married?" Jaune said, waving off the flask.**

" **Occasionally. I'm always on the lookout for a future ex-Mrs. Valkyrie."**

"Well, that explains why she's going after Pyrrha." Jaune said to himself.

"Can you blame me?" Nora chimed in. Ren and Jaune looked at each other and shrugged. She had a point.

 **Mercury walked up the ramp out of the control room with his usual swagger, shoulders lax and hands in his pockets, but his eyes were laser focused on the entrance to the lab on his right. He took out his watch and checked the timer. "Five… Four… Three… Two… One…" As his timer hit zero, he heard the airlock door unlock. He grinned and pushed it open with impunity, knowing full well that all the cameras inside were knocked out.**

 **Emerald, at the time, was lighting a new cigarette when an alert on her computer caught her attention.**

" **That's odd."**

" **What?" Ozpin asked, bored.**

" **Door security systems are shutting down."**

" **Well, Mercury did say a few systems would go off-line, didn't he?"**

"He's as good as you, Emerald." Cinder said.

"He wishes." Emerald scoffed. She had to admit though, it was a clever idea to write a program like this into his own code. With a single keystroke, he had unlocked the entire facility at a time completely determined by him.

 **In the lab, Mercury pushed open the door to the cold storage room and raised the two towers that kept the embryos frozen. He pulled the can of shaving cream from his jacket pocket and set to work putting the embryos in the internal compartment, delicately, one at a time. When he had finished, he returned the towers to their original positions, resealed the door behind him, and screwed the shaving cream canister back together.**

'He's good.' Emerald thought to herself.

" **By the way, Dr. Nikos," Nora said, trying and failing to be subtle, "She's not, like, available, is she?"**

" **Why?" Jaune replied, not liking the direction Nora was going.**

 **The single word clicked in Nora's mind. "I'm sorry. Your two are…"**

" **Yeah." Jaune said, getting ready to dig into Nora before the cars suddenly came to a halt. "Okay, what'd I touch?" he said sarcastically.**

" **Uh, you didn't touch anything. We stopped." Nora said, thankful for the unexpected distraction.**

"Nora, you are one lucky S.O.B." Yang commented.

"Thanks for saving me from awkward conversation, Mercury!" Nora said cheerfully.

"Sure thing, Pinky, but you owe me one." Mercury said, playing along.

 **More alarms were now blaring in the control room, causing Emerald to actually start worrying.**

" **Aw, what the hell, what the hell, what the hell?"**

" **What now?" Ozpin asked.**

" **Fences are failing all over the park."**

" **Find Mercury! Check the vending machines!" Ozpin ordered Qrow.**

"Now he's getting reckless." Emerald said.

"How do you mean?" Cinder said.

"Keep watching."

 **It wouldn't do any good, though. He wasn't even in the building anymore. A Jeep stopped in front of the main gates to the park. Mercury hopped out, ran up to a control box, ignoring the pouring rain, and activated the manual override for the gate. He ran back to the car, and blasted through the gate into the park itself.**

 **Back in the control room, Emerald walked over to Mercury's computer and was repulsed almost the second she sat down. "Look at this work station!" she said, shoving trash of the desk, "What a complete slob.**

" **The raptor fences aren't out, are they?" Qrow asked, worried.**

 **Emerald did a quick check on the computer and replied, "No, no, they're still on."**

 **Ozpin looked to Qrow and asked, "Why the hell would he turn the other ones off?"**

"Okay, so at least he's not completely reckless." Emerald commented, a little bit relieved.

"I see." Cinder said, "By turning off the fences, he ran the risk off the animals getting out while they were down."

 **Once again, Ozpin's question was answered as Mercury pushed open another gate, giving him direct access to the park. He walked back to his car and zoomed through the gate. The roads were bumpy as all hell, and he could barely see out the windshield, so it was no surprise when he saw a sign, he tried to stop his car but ended up fishtailing and crashing into said sign. He got out and looked at it. It said 'East Dock' and had an arrow underneath that was supposed to show which way to go. The only problem was that the arrow had fallen off, leaving him clueless as to where to go.**

" **Shit." He muttered to himself.**

"And he didn't come up with contingencies for surprise weather conditions, like, I don't know, a tropical storm in the tropics?" Emerald deadpanned.

 **Back at the control room, Emerald was busy try to fix what Mercury had done, talking to herself as she typed.**

" **Access main program… access main security… access main program grid." Each one failed, and after the third try, the screen began to repeat a single phrase; 'YOU DIDN'T SAY THE MAGIC WORD!' Suddenly, a cartoonish image with Mercury's face appeared on another screen and began to say, 'Ah, ah, ah, you didn't say the magic word!' on a loop. "Please!" Emerald yelled, "God damnit! I hate this hacker crap."**

" **Call Black's people, in Vale." Ozpin said, pushing a phone towards Emerald. She started dialing but gave up when she didn't hear a dial tone.**

" **Phones are out too."**

" **Where did the vehicles stop?" Ozpin asked Qrow, looking up at him.**

"Well that's freaking ominous." Ruby commented.

* * *

 **And there we go. the Trike and the Turn. I think using Mercury to play Nedry was a good decision on my part, because it gives me a chance to re-write Nedry's lines. I actually like how the character sounds in this version (confidant and socially adept) over the canon film version (nervous and socially inept). Now, those of you who have seen Jurassic Park before should have a good idea of what's coming up next; the much-anticipated T. Rex attack scene. Unfortunately, we have to wait until next week for that bit.**

 **One last thing before I go. Several of my reviewers have been requesting I do a certain movie in the future. I just want to let you guys know that I hear you, and I am considering it, but I unfortunately have never seen that movie before, so I have no way to cast it.**

 **In any case, be sure to follow, favorite, and review, and I'll see you next week.**

 **Next Update: 1/15/19**


	8. Chapter 8- Jurassic Park, Part 8

**Another week, another chapter. But this time, it's no ordinary chapter. This is the chapter everyone has been hyping about and calling me several different varieties of tease over- some of which I didn't even know existed and were rather hurtful at first.**

 **Just kidding about that last bit. Everyone was very calm and polite about me blue-balling them last week. I assure you, I did it for good reason.**

 **Now, let us begin.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 8

 **The goat bleated within the Tyrannosaur paddock, audible over the pouring rain as Jaune ran back to his car to take cover from the storm. The cars had inexplicably stopped right in front of the enclosure, and, not knowing what to do, he went to confer with the only other adult present.**

"Oh, this oughta be good." Torchwick said, sitting up in his seat.

" **Their radio's out too." He said, as he climbed back into the driver's seat and closed the door, soaking wet. "Schnee said to stay put."**

" **Kids okay?" Nora asked, concern evident in her voice.**

" **I didn't ask. Why wouldn't they be?"**

" **Kids get scared."**

" **What's to be scared of? It's just a little hiccup in the power- "**

" **I didn't say I was scared."**

" **I didn't say you were scared." Jaune said, giving Nora a sidelong glance.**

 **In the front car, Ruby jumped up and cried "Boo!", startling her big sister and waking up the white-haired adult in the driver's seat. Yang's momentary fright was justified. Ruby was wearing a large pair of goggles over her eyes that were colored in yellow and green camouflage and clearly too big for her.**

"Some things never change, do they little sister?" Yang said, ruffling Ruby's hair.

"It was easier to do when we were little." Ruby said, waving away her sister's hand.

" **Hey," Whitley said shortly, "Where did you find those?"**

" **In a box under my seat." Ruby chirped.**

" **Are they heavy?"**

" **Yeah." Ruby said, weighing them in her hands. They were heavy to her, at least.**

" **Then they're expensive. Put them back." Whitley said as he returned to resting his eyes, letting the drumming of the rain on the windshield help him fall asleep. Ruby gave him a small pout before completely disregarding what he said as soon as his eyes were closed and climbing into the trunk area with the goggles still on her head. As she passed Yang in the back seat, the blonde grabbed a pamphlet and gave the brunette a light smack on the head with it.**

" **Don't scare me." She said quietly.**

 **Ruby stared out the back windshield of the car and turned on the goggles. Instantly, the world turned shades of green and she could see as well as she normally could in the daytime.**

" **Woah, cool. Night vision." She said as she began fiddling with the zoom dial. She saw that the rear car had one of its doors open and Dr. Arc was filling up a canteen of some kind with rain water.**

"Is that what it's like for you, Blake?" Ruby asked, referring to the natural night vision most Faunus possessed.

"More or less." She replied "At least it's not as fuzzy for us, but then, technology vs nature isn't always a fair comparison."

 **Feeling that his canteen was sufficiently full, Jaune pulled his hand back in, closed the door, and took a sip from the canteen before offering it to Nora, who politely took it.**

 **In the front car, Ruby took off her goggles, turned and halted her sister, who had been fanning herself with the pamphlet she had smacked Ruby with.**

" **Do you hear that?" she asked quietly.**

"Hear what?" Weiss said, confused. Next to her, Blake's ears were twitching. She heard it.

"Ilia?" she asked her old friend

"I heard it." Of course, she did. Ilia's hearing was as good as any other Faunus, better considering what her former occupation was in the White Fang.

"Heard what!?" Weiss asked.

"Watch and find out." Her sister said, putting a calming hand on her shoulder.

 **She slid into the back seat and leaned over the front passenger seat, starring at the two small cups of water on the dash. They were rippling, though nobody in the car was moving. Soon, a dull thudding could be heard, loud enough to even wake up Whitley, who had been dozing comfortably. Slowly, the thudding grew louder, and he saw it reflected in the water.**

" **Maybe it's the power trying to come back on." He whispered. Ruby remained unconvinced.**

"Getting Kuroyuri flashbacks, here." Jaune said, growing more nervous.

"Right there with ya, buddy." Ruby said.

" **What is that?" Yang asked as Ruby crawled back into the trunk and looked out the car again, this time in the direction of the goat in the paddock, realizing that she hadn't heard it in a while. As her night vision came into focus, she saw that the goat was gone, the pole it was tethered to bent, and the chain swinging freely. Yang and Whitley too saw this, and Yang started to breathe a bit heavier.**

 **She turned to her sister and said, "Where's the goat?" Her question was immediately answered when one of the goat's legs fell on the sunroof, scaring her and Whitley. Ruby however, simply took off her goggles and looked up at the fence. What she saw scared her silent.**

"Son of a bitch!" Yang yelled, calming herself down from the jump scare. Summer gave her that one; even she had jumped a little in her seat.

 **Hanging from the supposedly electrified fence was what she thought was the tiny, two-clawed fore arm of a T. Rex. She thought it impossible until the arm slid off the fence and the beast's massive head came into view as it swallowed the rest of the goat whole and turned to look at the vehicles.**

" **Oh, Oum!" Whitley said before he scrambled out of the car.**

" **He left us." Yang whispered in shock.**

"Nothing to say, sister?" Winter asked.

"Can't fault him that one." Weiss replied, "I doubt I wouldn't have done the same, had I not already been trained as a Huntress."

 **Whitley ran past the rear car, scared out of his mind, before he ran for a nearby bathroom and hid himself in a stall, yelping when he fell backwards onto the toilet.**

" **Where does he think he's going?" Jaune said with disdain.**

 **Nora shook her head slightly. "When you gotta go, you gotta go."**

 **Suddenly, the two adults heard a thump, followed by the sounds of several of the thick wires of electric fence snapping free. Somewhat unsupported, the fence creaked loudly as it began to shift.**

" **Dr. Arc?" Yang said, hoping someone would come help them. The T. Rex, meanwhile, continued to tear the wires from the fence. Finally free, it stepped over the moat, onto the road, and let out a roar.**

"Look at the size of that monster!" Nora exclaimed.

"Tyrannosaurus Rex," Ruby said calmly, "The King of the Dinosaurs. 40 ft long, 12 ft tall at the hips, and weighing up to 15 tons. One of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs on record and possessing the strongest bite force of any terrestrial animal."

"Not helping Ruby!" Weiss said.

'Mmmm, if only I had a few of these with me when I attacked Beacon.' Cinder thought, licking her lips. Neo saw the look on her face and scooted as far away from her as she could.

" **Boy do I hate being right all the time." Nora whispered, staring at the mighty beast before her. The Rex let out another mighty roar before circling around the rear car.**

" **Keep absolutely still." Jaune told her, "Its vision is based on movement."**

"Actually, that theory's been discredited."

"Not now, Ruby." Said Blake.

 **Yang, on the other hand, did not know this and was busy rummaging through the trunk until she found a case with a high-power portable flashlight, which she immediately took out and turned on, searching for something, anything. The T. Rex, who had been busy with the rear car, saw the beam of light and instantly started towards the lead car.**

" **Turn the light off." Jaune said firmly, knowing it would do no good. "Turn the light off."**

" **Turn the light off!" Ruby yelled as the Rex came closer, eventually stopping next to the open front door. Calmly and slowly, Ruby reached out, grabbed the handle, and closed the door as quickly and silently as she could. The first, she succeeded on. The second, not so much. She knew because, as soon as the door closed, the Rex's head immediately swung in the direction of the noise with a snarl, leaving the girls frozen with fear breathing heavily.**

 **Ruby and Yang now had the monster's full attention, problem was, the Rex couldn't find them. Oh, it knew they were there, but the rain was messing with its sense of smell, and since the car wasn't moving, it couldn't see it. Instinct told it they were right in front of it, but it's brain couldn't confirm it. It lowered its head until it was looking directly at Yang, who simply shone the flashlight in its eye, causing it to move away.**

 **The girls looked at each other in uncertainty. Finally, the Rex let out a frustrated roar that made the girls cover their ears it was so deafening. It looked directly into the car, and the girls scrambled back in fright. This was their first mistake, for the Rex let out a short snarl and gave the car a nudge with its snot, causing the car to lift up onto two wheels and the girls within to start screaming.**

"I think that means 'I see you!'" read Neo's sign.

 **Ruby clambered into the back seat. "Turn- turn it off!" she said to Yang, trying to wrestle the flashlight from her grip.**

" **I'm sorry!" Yang wailed as she and Ruby started bickering with each other as they tried to get the flashlight turned off. What they didn't realize was the beam from the light travelling upward until it shone out of the glass sun roof over their heads. This was their second mistake.**

 **The next second, they found themselves on their backs, screaming and holding the sunroof up with their hands as the Tyrannosaur rammed its head through the roof to get at them. It reared its head back, and dived in for a second chance, not understanding why it was unable to reach its quarry. Meanwhile, Nora and Jaune watched it all go down.**

"Do something, you idiots!" Roman yelled at the screen. Even he would have done something to help by now.

 **Using the side of its head, the Tyrannosaur then rolled the car onto its roof, with the girls still inside, and began to attack the undercarriage, holding it steady with one foot. Having seen enough, Jaune leapt into the trunk and found a crate- the exact same as the one Yang had found previously. However, instead of the flashlight, he grabbed a flare, lit it and stepped out into the rain.**

" **Hey!" he yelled, waving the flare about. The Tyrannosaur gave a roar in response, its foot still pressing down on the car, flooding the now windowless cabin with mud.**

"Alright, Vomit Boy, you have its attention." Yang said, "So what's step two of your master plan?"

"How the hell should I know?" Jaune defended.

"Don't worry, fearless leader," Nora chirped, "I have faith you'll pull it off. After all, he's still you, alternate universe or not."

 **Nora seemed to have a similar plan, and lit up a flare of her own.**

 **Back outside, Jaune was waving the flare from side to side, keeping the beast's attention, before throwing the flare into the jungle. The T. Rex followed with a bellow and Jaune's plan would have worked perfectly, if Nora hadn't jumped out the other side of the car.**

" **Hey! Hey! Hey!" she yelled, waving her flare about, catching the Rex's attention.**

Nora cringed, knowing what her counterpart had just done. "Sorry." She said guiltily.

Jaune gave her an 'it's okay' look and rubbed the top of her hair.

" **Nora, freeze!" Jaune ordered.**

" **Get the kids!" she yelled as she held the flare aloft and began to run.**

" **Get rid of the flare!" Nora threw her flare into the enclosure, but the Rex obviously found her to be the better prey as it continued to follow her as she fled. In the bathroom, Whitley was praying to the Gods as the Tyrannosaur finally caught up to Nora. It crashed into the outhouse with a roar, throwing Nora aside with its snout and causing it to collapse, burying Nora in dried palm fronds. Whitley sat on the toilet in the rain, looking up at the beast who gazed down at the scared little man before it. Before Whitley could utter a word, the beast grabbed him up to his waist in its jaws and violently shook him side to side.**

"Wonder how the Ice Queens are doing." Qrow said to Tai.

"Probably not great. They did just watch their brother get eaten." Tai replied.

'What the fuck is wrong with me?' Weiss thought to herself, bringing a hand up to her head, 'Why did that feel good to watch?' Winter saw the look of her sister's face, and gently took her hand to comfort her.

 **Jaune, meanwhile was busy extricating the girls from the overturned car.**

" **Dr. Arc!" Yang cried as he helped her out.**

" **I'm stuck!" Ruby said with a grunt, "The seat's got my feet."**

" **I'll get you next." He told Ruby as he helped Yang get to her knees. She was covered in mud, her wet hair plastered to her face. When she finally got out and Jaune was able to turn his attention to freeing Ruby, Yang looked up and screamed when she saw the T. Rex.**

 **Jaune reacted instantly, grabbing one of her arms and covering her mouth with his free hand. "Don't move!" he whispered, "He can't see us if we don't move." The Tyrannosaur stood before them, making a large foot print in the fresh mud. It leaned down until it was almost a foot away from their faces, but it ran into the same problem of being unable to see them. It tried to sniff them out, blowing Jaune's hat off his head in the process, but to no avail. In frustration, it spun the car around clockwise, forcing Jaune and Yang to scramble to keep up. When the car finally stopped, they found they now had cover from the beast.**

 **The Tyrannosaur turned its attention back to Ruby who remained under the car, no longer stuck, yet still trapped. She screamed as the hunter attempted to flip the car over to get at her. Yang and Jaune tried to go around the other side of the car but were blocked by the T. Rex when it pushed the car in its attempts to get Ruby. It pushed further still until Jaune and Yang found themselves at the edge of a twenty-foot drop into the T. Rex's enclosure.**

"Wait, how is that even there?" Ruby said. "If that drop was there before, there's no way the Rex should have been able to-"

"Sis? Shut up!" Yang said, earning her a head smack from her mother, "I think you should be more concerned with the you who's stuck in a car being attacked by the most infamous dinosaur of all time."

"Oh." Ruby said, eyes widening, "Right. That."

"Did Red actually forget that her alternate self was being attacked?" Roman asked Neo.

"And I thought you were a dum-dum." Neo signed.

 **Jaune grabbed one of the wires, swung Yang onto his back and began to climb down the side of the concrete wall. About three feet down, they heard the T. Rex snarl in frustration and saw the front of the car move out over the wall. It was going to go over the side and hit them on the way down! Terrified, Yang wrapped her arms around Jaune's throat.**

" **Yang!" he strained to say, "Yang, you're choking me!" The car moved further forward. He looked to the side and got an idea. "Grab the wire!" he said, as she started to swing himself closer to it, Yang's arm outstretched. With each swing, they came closer to grabbing the other wire, while the other car came closer to falling over the side of the wall, until it finally fell, landing in a tree in the enclosure, ostensibly with Ruby still inside. Luckily, Yang managed to grab the wire as the car fell.**

 **Seeing its prize gone, the Tyrannosaur let out a final mighty roar.**

"Anyone else really glad those guys are extinct?" Sun said, trying to lighten the mood.

"YES!" said almost everyone in the theater.

"Well…" Cinder said, considering it in her head.

* * *

 **So, that's the chapter. I know it's a bit shorter than the others, but I knew from the onset of writing this that the T Rex scene deserved to be a chapter unto itself. And yes, folks, *that* is how Weiss reacts to her little brother getting brutally killed in front of her eyes.**

 **I have a feeling I'm gonna be getting a lot of angry reviews about this one. Ah well, see you all next week. Old Wolf, out!**

 **Next Update: 1/22/19**


	9. Chapter 9- Jurassic Park, Part 9

**Well, last chapter was certainly well-received. Put me over 300 followers and almost as many favorites. You guys are completely crushing all my expectations for this story. Now for the actually anticipated and well-deserved death chapter.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 9

 **Back in the Control room, Emerald was sitting at Mercury's computer with Pyrrha, Ozpin, and Qrow watching her.**

" **Keycheck space minus 0. Keychecks off. Safety space minus 0." Emerald said, reading off the command history of the terminal aloud, "He's turning off the security systems. Doesn't want anybody to see what he's about to do. Now listen to this next entry, it's the kicker. 'White rabbit object'. Whatever it did, it did it all. But with Keychecks off, the computer didn't log the key strokes, so now the only way to find it is go through the computer's lines of code one-by-one."**

"Credit where it's due, kid," Roman said with a nod, "This you knows what he's doing."

"Please, it's common sense, nothing more." Emerald scoffed.

"I'm more concerned with this 'white rabbit object'." Winter said.

"What about it?" Weiss asked.

"I believe that Ms. Schnee is saying that an object shouldn't have been able to do everything it supposedly did." Ozcar said.

"Huh?"

"In programming language," Winter said, "An object is essentially a clump of code that acts as a literal object in the digital space of the computer. It can be moved around and manipulated, but it can't cause anything that Ms. Sustrai is describing."

"I believe Mr. Black simply created a command and disguised it as an object." Ozcar proposed.

"A back door." Winter nodded, the theory making sense.

" **How many lines of code are there?" Pyrrha asked.**

"' **Bout two million." Emerald said, taking a drag from her cigarette.**

" **Two million?"**

"Damn!" Yang said in surprise,

"That sounds about right." Winter commented.

"How do you figure?"

"Have you ever seen computer code, Ms. Xiao Long?"

"No…"

"That's an accurate amount. Trust me."

" **Yeah."**

" **Qrow," Ozpin said, turning to his warden, "I wonder if you'd be good enough to take a gas jeep, and bring back my grandchildren?"**

" **Sure." He replied. As he walked off, he took a small swing from his flask.**

"Yeah! Uncle Qrow to the rescue!" Ruby cheered.

"Wonder if this means we'll get to see him fight a dinosaur?" Yang said.

"Taking all bets, folks!" Qrow called. Kali giggled at this, while Ghira gave him a quizzical look and Taiyang simply facepalmed.

" **I'm going with him." Pyrrha said, following after him.**

" **Oz. Oz!" Emerald said trying to get the older man's attention. When he finally turned around, she told him flat-out, "I can't get Jurassic Park back online without Mercury Black."**

 **Back in the park, Mercury was driving down a muddy dirt road, wondering where the hell he was. He felt that he should have reached the docks by now. He blew past a sign. Realizing what it indicated, he immediately turned the wheel to the right as far as it would go in an attempt to turn around.**

"Why do people in movies always seem to think that will work?" Emerald observed.

"Never thought I'd say this," Blake said, "But you have a point there."

 **Unsurprisingly, he failed and wound up fishtailing past a wooden fence and down a hill, where he was stopped when a fallen tree caught his rear wheels. Realizing he was stuck, he jumped out of the car to assess the situation. Looking around, he finally found the road that would lead him to the dock. Now to get himself unstuck.**

 **He unwound a hook attached to a length of wire from a winch attached to the front of his jeep, muttering his plan to himself. "Winch this sucker off the thing and then I tie it to that tree over there. Pull the car down and the wire goes back in the thing. Easy."**

"Murphey's Law." Ilia said, making Blake smile, getting the joke.

 **As he turned around, he slipped on the wet ground and fell down a small waterfall, landing face-first in the mud.**

"You can't catch a break, can you Mercury?" Cinder said mockingly.

"It's what he gets for not taking weather into account." Emerald said.

"Oh, and you could do so much better?" Mercury said angrily. Emerald gave him a sardonic smile. "Yeah, good point." He said, making Cinder give Emerald a high-five.

" **Perfect. Just fucking perfect." He swore to himself. He picked himself up and walked over to the tree. "Cool down Merc, focus on the money." He checked his watch as he wound the wire and hook around the tree, "Yeah, I still got time."**

 **As he tightened the wire, a dinosaur, poked it's head around the right side of the tree with a squeak. It was small, about the size of a bird house, and had two crests rising from it's head in a v formation.**

"And that would be a dilophosaur." Ruby said proudly

" **Hello?" Mercury said nervously, checking his back. When the dilophosaur repeated the action on the other side of the tree, Mercury saw it, and regarded it with a scoff and a cocky smile. "Huh. 'Kay, bye."**

 **He started back towards the jeep, not knowing that his new friend was following him until it let out another of its hooting squeaks. Mercury turned around and saw that the dinosaur was as tall as his waist, and well-muscled for its size.**

"Small bugger, isn't he?" Mercury commented.

"It's probably a juvenile. The average size of a full-grown dilophosaur was about five feet tall at the hips, and 23 feet long." Ruby explained.

" **You know, I'd be more worried about you if you were one of your big brothers." He said, pulling up the hood of his coat. "What do you want? Food? Take a look pipsqueak, I just fell down a hill, I'm soaking wet and I'm irritable. I have no food on me, so scram." When the dinosaur failed to move, he shook his head and scoffed in disgust. "Can't even follow orders. No wonder you're extinct. I'm gonna run you over once I get my car down here."**

"God, Legs, can you not be dick? For, like, five minutes?" Yang said.

"What can I say, Blondie? He shouldn't have messed with someone at the top of the food chain." Mercury said, putting his feet on the chair in front of him, trying to look cool.

"Making a lot of assumptions, there, Legs." Blake said.

"That nickname's not going away anytime soon, is it?"

"Nope!" said Team RWBY.

 **That said, he turned and started back up the hill, moving against the water and mud flowing down it. As he reached the top, he turned around and saw the same stupid creature standing behind him. That's when it happened.**

 **Suddenly, a large colorful frill came up from the dilophosaur's neck, framing its squawking face. It reeled it's head back and spat something at Mercury, covering his chest and some of his neck with a foul-smelling black goo. Touching it, Mercury could feel his skin begin to tingle where it made contact. Sufficiently freaked out by this, he scrambled to his feet and made his way to the open car door, turning to make sure the dilophosaur was where it should be. This was a mistake, as the dinosaur again spat at him, though this time the goo landed on his face. Specifically, in his eyes. It burned, and he screamed in pain, trying to rub it from his eyes. He tried to get in the car, but rammed his head on the door frame. He fell over, and as he did so, the can of shaving cream fell out of his pocket. It was carried away by the current down to the bottom of the hill where it was buried in a mound of mud.**

 **Mercury managed to pull himself back into the car and slam the door shut behind him. He breathed a sigh of relief before he heard it again. The sound of that frill and the deafening roar of the dilophosaur. He turned and had just enough vision left to see the monster in the car with him before it attacked him.**

 **And all he could do was scream.**

"Yeesh," Yang said with a grimace, "That's a hell of a way to go."

"So, you were saying about being on the top of the food chain?" Blake said, looking up at Mercury, who said nothing as he listened to his counterpart die.

 **Jaune stood by a drain pipe as he used the water flowing out to wash the mud from his face. The rain had finally stopped by the time he and Yang had reached the foot of the concrete wall, and he was a man on a mission, and that mission only had one objective: Rescue Ruby. Yang stood nearby, hysterical, muddy and wet. Jaune turned and scanned the trees to find the one the car had fallen in.**

" **Ruby! Ruby?!" he yelled when he found the tree. When he heard no reply, he turned to Yang, "Now, Yang, listen." However, she was still hysterical. "Yang! I'm right here. I'm gonna look after you, but I have to help your sister. So I want you to stay right here, and wait for me."**

" **He left us." She said quietly, referring to Whitley, "He left us!"**

" **But that's not what I'm gonna do." He said calmly, looking her dead in the eye. "Okay? Stay here."**

 **Not feeling safe out in the open, she crawled into the storm drain.**

 **Jaune approached the tree, calling Ruby's name, but still getting no answer. He feared she might be dead, or unconscious at least, but there was only one way to know for certain. Even though he didn't like it, he began to climb the tree.**

" **Ruby? You hear me? I'm coming up." He called up as he climbed, brachiosaurs bellowing in the distance. The entire way up, he talked to himself about how he hated climbing, hated trees, that they were too tall.**

 **Eventually, he reached the car. He continued to call out Ruby's name, softer now. He looked in and saw her sitting on the glove compartment and leaning against the seat in front of it. Her clothes were soaked and muddy, as was her face, and she had a long gash over her right eye. She opened her eyes and saw him standing outside the car.**

" **You okay?" Jaune asked as he opened the driver's side door.**

" **I threw up." She croaked. The smell confirmed it.**

" **Oh," Jaune said awkwardly, "That's- that's okay. Just give me your hand." He offered her his, but she didn't budge. "Ruby, I won't tell anyone you threw up, just give me your hand." He tried to reach further in by using the steering wheel, but only succeeded in turning the wheels of the car. Ruby grabbed the arm rest and a part of the car frame and carefully hauled herself to her feet. She took Jaune's hand and, together, they managed to get her out with only a small amount of creaking from the car itself. Finally, Ruby was out of the car and standing on a study branch close to Jaune.**

" **That's wasn't too bad, right, Ruby?" he said calmly.**

" **Yes, it was."**

" **It's like coming out of a tree house. Did your dad ever build you a tree house?"**

"He did!" Summer said, "Tai, do you remember when the girls helped you build that tree house that one summer?"

"Yeah. Wasn't that the year we discovered Yang's semblance?"

"Gods, please make them stop." Yang said, rubbing her temples as Ruby giggled at her expense.

" **No."**

" **Yeah, me too." He said, "Now, the thing about climbing is, you never, never look down."**

 **Ruby looked down. "This is impossible." She said.**

 **Jaune looked down, immediately regretting it. "So…" he gulped.**

" **How am I supposed to do this? It's like- "**

" **I'm gonna help you with your- "**

 **They both stopped when they heard the car groan as it shifted downwards. Jaune saw the tire had been turned in his direction and was now overextended. He put two and two together, knowing exactly whose fault it was.**

"Ruh roh." Sun said.

Neptune nodded in agreement. "Ruh roh."

" **Oh no," he whispered before ordering, "Ruby, go!"**

 **They had descended a few feet when the car moved again. Jaune saw it coming and braced himself for impact. Thankfully, it was halted just a few inches from Jaune's back by a sturdy tree branch. Jaune and Ruby resumed their descent as the branch holding the car groaned under the load it was bearing. Jaune looked up and saw the branch begin to give.**

" **Oh, gogogo, go, Ruby, go!" The duo began to operate almost on instinct, using any branch that looked safe to climb down. Luckily, they were all strong enough to support them. The car resumed it's fall, mowing down every branch in its path. "Faster, Ruby!"**

 **Finally, as they neared the base of the tree, Jaune ordered Ruby to jump down. They landed between a pair of roots that the car also landed on. Jaune pushed Ruby forward as the car began to fall over. He then grabbed her and shielded her as they allowed the car to fall on them. Good thing the sunroof had been smashed in the attack.**

" **Well," Ruby said, catching her breath, "We're back, in the car again."**

" **Well," Jaune said with a small chuckle, "At least you're out of the tree."**

"See? Silver lining." Qrow said as he organized the bets on him on his scroll.

* * *

 **Shorter chapter is short. Not really much to say about that.**

 **What I do have to say is that I now have a reason why Ruby is such a fan of dinosaurs. the reason: her VA. Lindsey Jones is an admitted super-fan of Jurassic Park, so it makes sense that the character she plays would have somethings in common with her, like Barbara and Yang with their puns. I'll admit, it's a stretch, but I like it anyway, so there.**

 **Anyway, I'll see you guys next week. Be sure to Follow, Favorite and Review- though I would like to ask for no more movies proposals as I already have a list that should take me all year to get through- and I'll see you all next week.**

 **Next Update: 1/29/18**


	10. Chapter 10- Jurassic Park, Part 10

**Ya know, at times like this, I'm really glad I do these chapters well in advance. I'll explain later.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 10

"So Qrow, what's the spread?" Tai asked his former partner.

"Welp, we got a cool six hundred lien on whether I live through this movie or die at some point."

"And unsurprisingly, your nieces and their friends all bet for you"

"Meanwhile, Team CRME back there are all betting against me."

"What about the heterochromatic mute girl?"

"She and her boss are gonna split his share."

"How do you know?" Qrow showed him the text he had received earlier. "Ah."

 **Qrow and Pyrrha's jeep pulled up to the scene of the attack. Without the T. Rex around, it was fairly peaceful, so long as you ignored the giant hole in the fences, the massive footprints, and the missing car. Pyrrha jumped out before the jeep had even stopped.**

" **Where's the other car?" she said, growing far beyond worried, "Where's the other car!? Jaune!"**

" **Dr. Arc!" Qrow called.**

" **Jaune!"**

" **Arc!" Qrow lifted up a piece of the outhouse and shined his flashlight on the object underneath. "I think this was Schnee."**

" **I think this was too." Pyrrha said, almost retching at the sight of a mangled piece of meat. Suddenly, they heard the tyrannosaur roar in the distance. "I think it's ahead of us."**

" **It could be anywhere," Qrow said, "With the fences down, it can wander in and out of any paddock it likes."**

 **A loud groaning drew their attention to a previously unnoticed body, Nora, who was covered in ferns. Pyrrha pulled them off and noticed that her belt was tied tightly around her leg.**

" **She put on a tourniquet. Nora? Nora?!"**

" **Remind me to thank Oz for a lovely weekend." She said with all the sarcasm.**

"Even in an alternate universe, we can count on you to try and brighten the mood, can't we Nora?" Jaune said. Nora responded by curling up like a dog and lying her head on his lap. Jaune and Ren chuckled at her antics.

 **The tyrannosaur roared again. "Can we chance moving her?" Pyrrha asked Qrow.**

 **Another roar, this time sounding closer. "Please, chance it." Nora answered.**

 **A few minutes later, they had Nora loaded into the back of the jeep, while the tyrannosaur continued to roar and Pyrrha looked around the area where the other car had been, the obvious target of the attack. There was broken glass, pamphlets, brochures, and general wreckage everywhere, and she noticed a drag line that led to the fence.**

" **Pyrrha! Come on!" Qrow half-yelled/half-whispered. Pyrrha, meanwhile, continued to investigate the scene, eventually leading her to look over the concrete wall, where she saw…**

" **The other car!" she called.**

 **Qrow and Pyrrha made their way to the car which lay overturned and somewhat compacted at the base of a tree.**

"Oh, sure, leave the cripple in the back of a car to investigate a car wreck with a super predator on the loose. Great plan." Nora's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Would you do any different if it was Ren?" Weiss asked. Nora remained silent, hoping no one would see her turning tomato red. "That's what I thought." Weiss said with a satisfied grin.

" **Dr. Arc?" Qrow called.**

" **Jaune!" Pyrrha said, hoping against hope that he was in there.**

" **They're not here." Qrow said when they looked inside. Disappointed, Pyrrha looked at the ground where she noticed footprints leading away from the car. Looking closer, she noticed that they were three different sizes; one adult and two kids. Her best guess was that Jaune had found the kids and led them into the park, probably trying to find a way to the visitor's center.**

 **Back on the road, Nora was resting in the jeep when she was awoken by large thudding sounds. She opened her eyes and glanced down to the T. Rex footprint-turned puddle. Her blood pressure picked up when she heard the sound again and saw that it was accompanied by a ripple in the otherwise still water each time.**

" **Anybody hear that?" she said to nobody in particular, "That's a, um… It's an impact tremor, is what it is. I'm fairly alarmed here." She saw Qrow and Pyrrha running breakneck towards the jeep and began waving them over. "C'mon! C'mon c'mon c'mon! We gotta get out of here. Now, now. Right now!" She kept berating them as they jumped in the jeep. Just as Qrow managed to get it started and moving, the T. Rex burst from the trees they had come from with a roar and gave chase.**

 **Qrow shifted into first, but the tyrannosaur gained on them.**

" **Must go faster." Nora said.**

 **Nora and Pyrrha yelled at Qrow to shift gears, but he remained calm and checked the rear-view mirrors. He saw the tyrannosaur gaining on them, jaws open. Nora moved herself away from the beast, inadvertently moving the gear shift forward.**

" **Get off the stick!" Qrow said, "Let me move!"**

" **Lookout!" Pyrrha yelled.**

" **Down!" Qrow yelled. Everyone ducked as the windshield was smashed off by a thick, low-hanging tree branch. The T. Rex simply barreled through the rest of the branches hanging over the road. It managed to get up next to the speeding jeep and rammed its head into the side, trying to run it off the road. However, it failed, leaving only a dent in the door and a screaming Pyrrha. Qrow finally shifted into the highest gear and left the dinosaur in his dust as it backed off.**

"'Bout time, Old Man." Nora quipped.

"You're lucky I don't have a clear shot at the back of your head, Pinky." Qrow grumbled.

"Why didn't he just go that fast from the start?" Yang asked.

"The tyrannosaur would have still overtaken them." Winter explained, "You see the same thing with Grimm from time to time. Such large predators are natural sprinters, but only for a short period of time. You need only outlast them long enough to make your escape."

" **Think they'll have that on the tour?" Nora joked as they left their pursuer behind them, roaring in frustration.**

 **Elsewhere, Jaune and the girls heard the tyrannosaur's roaring in the distance, stopping them in their tracks.**

" **Are you hearing this?" Yang said quietly, obviously still freaked out to hell.**

"I've never seen Yang like this." Ruby said, "It's kinda weirding me out." Blake and Weiss voiced their agreement.

"Well, how would you expect me to act after being attacked by the greatest predator the world has ever seen and being unable to do anything about it?"

 **Jaune heard it, and began quickly assessing the situation. After everything they had been through in the past few hours, there was no sense in forcing the kids to march through the night to get to the visitor's center. Better to let them sleep, if only for a few hours. But where would be the safest place? They could go back to the storm drain, but that would mean going back into known Rex territory. There weren't any caves he could see, and they would only make themselves targets for any nocturnal carnivores that might be in the area. That only left one option, one that Ruby was sure to hate.**

" **Here, Ruby, Yang," He said taking their hands and leading to the large tree behind them, "Let's, uh, climb this tree." Ruby whined, as he knew she would, "C'mon, Ruby, let's get up here."**

" **I don't want to." She moaned as she reluctantly began climbing, "I hate trees."**

" **They don't bother me." Yang said as she followed suit.**

" **Oh yeah? Well you weren't in the last one."**

"Well, at least your recent trauma hasn't affected your wit in the slightest." Weiss said with a small smile.

 **Eventually, they climbed high enough that Jaune guessed they were out of the tyrannosaurs reach. At least he hoped. When they finally settled on the branches, Ruby pointed out in the distance.**

" **Look!" she exclaimed, pointing at the trio of long-necked sauropods in the valley below, "Those are brontosauruses- I mean, brachiosauruses" she corrected.**

"Had me worried there little me." Ruby said.

" **They're singing." Jaune said, switching back into observing scientist mode without realizing. The trumpeting sounds they made did indeed sound like music, but there seemed like there was more to it. So, he decided to conduct an experiment. He got onto a higher branch, balled his fists and put them to his lips. He then proceeded to make several noises, trying to imitate the calls of the brachiosaurs. It apparently worked as a few more brachiosaurs raised their heads and all of them turned to face him.**

" **Shh! Don't make the monsters come over here!" Yang said, slapping his leg.**

" **They're not monsters, Yang, they're just animals. These are herbivores." He explained.**

" **That means they only eat vegetables," Ruby said, "But for you I think they'd make an exception."**

" **Ruby." Jaune said with a tone of warning.**

" **Well, I hate the other kind." Yang said, pouting.**

" **They kinda just do what they do." Jaune said as he took a seat behind the girls.**

 **Without warning, the girls sat against him, Yang on his left, Ruby on his right. As Ruby managed to get comfortable, he felt a sharp pain on his rear. He reached back and dug out his fossilized raptor claw.**

"Ruby, what are you doing?" Jaune asked when Ruby walked over and leaned against his shoulder.

"Just checking something." She replied, getting comfortable.

"Checking what?" Jaune said, looking over at Yang, who was cracking her knuckles, her eyes beginning to change color.

"Huh," Ruby said, looking down at Nora, "He actually is a pretty good pillow."

"Right?" Nora said.

"Well, well, Vomit Boy, looks like you're more of a ladies man than I thought." Yang said with a forced smile, one of her eyes twitching.

"Please don't kill me."

" **What are you and Pyrrha gonna do now, if you don't have to dig up dinosaur bones anymore?" Yang asked.**

" **I don't know." Jaune said, not having thought about it in all the insanity, "I guess… I guess we'll just have to evolve too."**

" **What do you call a blind dinosaur?" Ruby asked.**

" **I don't know, what do you call a blind dinosaur?" Jaune said with a feeling about where she was going with it.**

" **Doyouthinkhesawrus." Ruby answered with a smile, making Jaune chuckle. "What do you call a blind dinosaur's dog?"**

" **You got me."**

" **Doyouthinkhesawrus Rex." Another chuckle from Jaune.**

"Boo!" Sun said.

"Get new material!" Neptune agreed.

"That pair of jokes makes Yang's puns look like comedic genius." Weiss said.

"Even I have to admit that was pretty weak, Sis." Yang said. Ruby threw a handful of Jaune's popcorn at her.

" **Jaune?" Yang said, feeling groggy.**

" **Yeah?" he answered.**

" **What if the dinosaurs come back while we're all asleep?"**

" **Well, I'll stay awake."**

" **All night?"**

" **All night." he reassured. A few minutes later, the sisters were out cold. Jaune regarded his claw for a moment before he tossed it out of the tree, where it landed near the base.**

"You'd make a good dad, kid." Taiyang said.

 **Back at the visitor's center, in the cafeteria, Ozpin sat alone at a dining table with tub after tub of ice cream before him. Pyrrha joined him as he scooped himself another pile of dessert.**

" **They were all melting." He said as she took a seat.**

" **Nora's alright for now, I gave her a shot of morphine." She reported.**

"And there's the one who conveniently knows enough medicine to treat minor wounds." Said Blake.

"Are you keeping a list or something?" Weiss asked.

"Mmm, something like that." Blake replied.

"She's a cryptic one isn't she?" Winter whispered to her sister.

"You have no idea."

" **They'll be fine." He said, trying to reassure himself more than her, "Who better to get the children through Jurassic Park than a dinosaur expert?" he took a bite of his "meal" and asked, "Do you know what the first attraction I ever built when I graduated from Beacon was? It was a flea circus. Petticoat Lane. Really quite wonderful.**

" **We had a wee trapeze, and a merry-go… a carousel… and a see-saw. They all moved- motorized, of course- but people would say they could see the fleas. 'Oh, I can see the fleas, Mommy. Can't you see the fleas?' Clown fleas, and high-wire fleas, and Fleas on Parade… but with this place? I wanted to show them something that wasn't an illusion. Something that was real. Something they could see, and touch. And not completely devoid of merit."**

" **But you can't think through this one, Oz, you have to feel it." Pyrrha said.**

" **You're right. You're absolutely right," he said, a small smile growing across his face, "Hiring Mercury was a mistake, that's obvious. We're over-dependent on automation. I can see that now. And the next time, everything's correctable."**

" **Oz…" Pyrrha groaned. He was missing the point.**

" **Creation is an act of sheer will. Next time it will be flawless."**

"No offense, Oz," Qrow said, "But I can't tell if this version of you is stupid, stubborn, or both."

"You're not wrong, so none taken."

" **It's still the flea circus. It's all an illusion!"**

" **When we have control again- "**

" **You never had control, that's the illusion!" Pyrrha shouted, allowing her worry and grief to flow, "I was overwhelmed by the power of this place, but I made a mistake too. I didn't have enough respect for that power and it's out now." She let her point sink in, giving her a chance to calm down. "The only thing that matters now are the people we love. Jaune, and Yang, and Ruby, Oz they're out there where people are dying. So…" she wiped her tears and ate a spoonful of ice cream, "It's good." She said with a chuckle.**

" **We spared no expense." Oz replied quietly.**

"Never let it be said that Pyrrha couldn't make a speech when she wanted to." Yang said.

' _You have no idea.'_ Jaune thought, a tear threatening to break through. Gods he missed her.

* * *

 **Before I get into the heavy stuff, I just want to reiterate that I am not looking for any more film suggestions. Once I'm nearing the end of my list, I will look to you guys again, but for now, I'm good.**

 **Now for the heavy stuff. Last year was not a great year for me. A lot of bullshit happened, mostly centered around my work, but the worst was the fact that I lost two grandparents within a few months of each other. And now, I've lost another, God rest his soul, literally the day after I posted the previous chapter. My mom took it the worst, seeing as how she and her siblings are now effectively orphans, but it me just as bad. I've grieved of course, in my own way, but the thing that really scares me about the whole thing is that not once did I ever cry. No tears. What does that say about me?**

 **I think you guys know the drill at this point. I'll hopefully see you all next week.**

 **Next Update: 2/5/19**


	11. Chapter 11- Jurassic Park, Part 11

**Surprise! Unplanned second upload this week! Why, you may rightly ask? Well, today is a day of mourning for the FNDM. Today, we celebrate the life of the one who gave us so much joy and inspiration, the man himself, Monty Oum.**

 **On this day, four years ago, Monty was taken from us by circumstances beyond the control of anyone, but his greatest piece of advice lives on: "Keep Moving Forward."**

 **This chapter is dedicated Monyreak "Monty" Oum, God rest his soul.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 11

 **The Sun had risen. Jungles birds were heard chirping and singing in the distance. The group of three was still asleep in their tree.**

"Cue rude awakening in 3… 2… 1…" Sun said.

 **But not for long.**

 **Soon, a brachiosaur leaned in its head and began- somehow quietly- to eat a cluster of leaves nearby the trio. Jaune was woken by it's breathing as it leaned in. He remained still, with a smile on his face, as he watched the sauropod eat. Soon, Yang was woken by the noise. She did not react as well as Jaune. She began scrambling away from the dinosaur in fright, waking Ruby, whose eyes widened at the sight.**

" **Go away!" Yang said loudly.**

"Called it." Sun said, earning him an elbow to the gut by Neptune.

" **It's okay, it's okay." Jaune said, trying to calm her, lest she scare the beast off, "It's a brachiosaur."**

" **It's a veggie-saurus, Yang! Veggie-saurus!" Ruby chirped.**

" **Veggie…" Yang said, trying to comprehend the meaning.**

" **Mmm. C'mon, girl. C'mon." Ruby said, wanting to reach out and touch it.**

" **Okay." Jaune said as he reached behind him and tore off a branch with a large clump of leaves on it. He held it out to the brachiosaur, hoping she would take the bait. The sauropod eyed the meal curiously, as if trying to sense the ulterior motive.**

"Right, cuz that'll make it do what you want." Weiss said with a roll of her eyes.

"Now, sister, your friend might be on to something here." Winter said, watching with interest.

 **Eventually, it gave up and took the branch in its mouth with a loud, booming cry. It tried to take it from Jaune's hands, but the man kept a firm grip and managed to bring the head closer, allowing the children to pet it. Yang, by this point was finally calming down.**

"See?" Winter said to Weiss, who was pinching the bridge of her nose.

"I mean, it works with Zwei. Why not a brachiosaur?" Ruby said.

"But Zwei is a dog! It's supposed to be different!"

" **Looks like it has a cold." Ruby observed.**

" **Yeah, maybe." Jaune agreed. He wasn't sure if an illness in a dinosaur would be capable of spreading to humans, and he didn't particularly feel like finding out.**

" **Can I touch it?" Yang asked, finally warming up to the creature.**

" **Sure." Jaune said, "Just think of it as kind-of a big cow." Ruby giggled at the accuracy of the comparison.**

" **I like cows…" Yang said as the brachiosaur began to lean away from the tree. She reached out to try and pet it, but the brachiosaur was far out of her reach, so she tried to softly coax it back up. Instead, it sneezed, spraying Yang with all manner disgustingness.**

 **Ruby crawled up behind her and yelled out, "Oum bless you!"**

"And once again, this me is scarred for life." Yang said.

 **A few minutes later, the trio was walking through the jungle, resuming their quest to return to the visitor's center, Yang completely grossed out.**

" **Oh great." Ruby said, jumping at the opportunity to tease her sister, "Now she's never gonna try anything new. She'll just sit in her room and never come out and play on her computer."**

" **I'm a hacker." Yang said as she climbed over a tree root.**

" **That's what I said. You're a nerd." Ruby said, as she climbed over the same.**

" **I am not a computer nerd. I prefer to be called a hacker."**

"Yang? A hacker? Now I'm convinced this is an alternate dimension." Ruby said.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Yang said, rounding on her sister. She was met with deadpan stares from everyone.

"Sweetie, even I know you don't know the first thing about hacking." Summer said, putting a hand on her daughter's head.

 **Jaune climbed over the same root. When he did, he looked down and was shocked at what he saw. "Oh, Gods." The kids ran over to him, sitting on the ground before a collection of broken eggshells. "Do you know what this is?" He asked the kids, picking up one of the shells. "It's a dinosaur egg. The dinosaurs are breeding."**

" **But grampa said all the dinosaurs were girls." Ruby said as she took the eggshell from Jaune.**

" **Amphibian DNA." Jaune said, putting the pieces together.**

" **What's that?" Yang asked.**

" **Well, on the tour, the film said they used frog DNA to fill in the gene sequence gaps." Jaune explained, picking up another of the shells, "They mutated the dinosaur genetic code, and blended it with that of frogs. Now, some West Vacuoan frogs have been known to spontaneously change sex from male to female when in a single sex environment. Nora was right." he scoffed, then pointed at a line of tracks leading away from the nest, "Look. Life found a way."**

"Wow, Nora was right about something." Weiss said, amazed. Ren and Jaune shared another knowing glance as Nora propped her head on her hands and kicked her feet up.

 **Back in the control room, everyone was having a discussion about what to do next, and from the sound of things, Emerald did not like Ozpin's idea.**

" **No, no, no, that's crazy. You're out of your mind. He's absolutely out of his mind." Emerald said.**

" **Wait, what exactly would this mean?" Pyrrha said, confused.**

" **We're talking about a calculated risk, my dear, which is about the only option left to us." Ozpin explained, "We will never find the command Mercury used. He's covered his tracks far too well and I think it's obvious now that he's not coming back. So, shutting down the entire system- "**

" **Well you can get someone else to do it, cuz I won't do it." Emerald snapped, "I will not- "**

"Bet she wouldn't be like this if Cinder was giving the order." Mercury commented, earning him another stomped foot.

"You'd think the kid woulda learned to shut up by now." Neo signed to her boss.

"He's a little slow, I'll admit." Roman said back.

" **Shutting down the entire system," Ozpin said, trying to calm Emerald down, "Is the only way to wipe out everything that he did. Now, as I understand it, all the systems will then come back online under their original start-up modes, correct?" he turned to Emerald.**

" **Theoretically, yes, but we've never shut down the entire system before. It may not come back on at all."**

" **Will we at least get the phones back?" Pyrrha asked.**

" **Yes. Again, in theory."**

" **What about the Lysine Contingency?" Qrow asked, "We could put that into effect."**

"Ooh, ominous." Nora said.

" **That is absolutely out of the question." Ozpin said immediately, and not without a bit of an edge to his voice.**

" **What's that?" Pyrrha asked.**

" **The Lysine Contingency is intended to prevent the spread of the animals if they ever got off the island." Emerald explained, taking a drag from her cigarette, "Dr. Ren inserted a gene that creates a single faulty enzyme in protein metabolism; the animals can't manufacture the amino acid lysine. Unless they're completely supplied with lysine by us, they slip into a coma and die."**

"Good gods!" Yang said, horrified.

"An effective plan, if nothing else." Winter commented, Glynda nodding her agreement.

"Still!"

" **People. Are. Dying!" Ozpin said with controlled anger. He stared her down before quietly asking "Will you please shut down the system?"**

 **With reluctance, Emerald unlocked the electrical power box and ran through the process in her head. She hesitated while reaching for a switch labeled 'C-3', before finally flipping it downwards, causing her personal work station to shut off. She did the same with 'C-2', causing another station to go black, before finally shutting down Mercury's station. Qrow and Pyrrha each grabbed a flashlight before Emerald threw the main power switch, plunging the room into darkness. She waited a full minute before doing the process again, flipping the secondary switches back on before holding onto the main power switch.**

" **Hold onto your butts." She said as she threw the main switch. Nothing appeared to happen. Emerald closed her eyes, thinking that it had all failed, when she heard a small beeping sound coming from Mercury's terminal. She walked over and saw a single line of code at the bottom of the screen. 'System Ready.'**

" **It's okay!" she said, relieved, causing Ozpin to walk over, "See that? It's on! It worked."**

 **Nora, who had been slumped on an elevated walkway and silent until this point, grabbed the handrail and tried to pull herself into a sitting position. "What do you mean 'it worked'? Everything's still off." She said.**

" **Well, maybe the shut down tripped the circuit breakers." Emerald theorized, hopeful, "All we have to do is turn them back on, reboot a few systems in here- phones, security doors, a half-dozen others- but it worked. The system's ready."**

" **Where are the breakers?" Qrow asked.**

" **Maintenance shed, other end of the compound. Three minutes, I can have power on in the entire park."**

" **Well, now, just to be safe," Ozpin said, taking charge, "I want everyone in the emergency bunker until Ms. Sustrai returns and the whole system is up and running again."**

"This all sound too easy to anyone else?" Sun asked.

"My gut tells me this whole thing is about to go from bad to worse." Qrow said, taking a sip from his flask.

"How could 'dinosaurs running loose in a theme park' get any worse?" Weiss said.

"The raptors could get out." Qrow said, leaving the theater silent as the movie continued.

 **It was midday, and Jaune and the kids were walking up a hill in an open plain. Ruby was complaining about the heat and how hard the trek was getting and Jaune was trying to reassure her by telling her how close they were. As they crested the top of the hill, they saw a large group of ostrich-like dinosaurs running over the top of another hill not too far from the them.**

" **Ruby. Ruby, can you identify them for me?" Jaune said.**

" **They're Gal-uh…uh…Gala-umm…" she knew them, but she couldn't quite get at the name. "Gallimimus!" she finally said with pride.**

" **Are those, uh, meat-eating… um… meat-asauruses?" Yang asked, worried.**

"Good question. Ruby?" Yang said.

"No. Though it possesses the characteristic two-legged therapod structure, Gallimimus was a part of the herbivorous ornithomimid family of bird-like dinosaurs."

"Thank you." Yang said, making Ruby smile as her mother rubbed her head.

" **Oh, look at the wheeling, uniform direction changes." Jaune said as the Gallimimuses suddenly turned towards them all at once. "Just like a flock of birds evading a predator."**

 **While Jane was busy observing, Ruby realized something, making her eyes widen. "They're, uh…" she chuckled, "They're flocking this way." She said before she turned and ran. Yang followed her, as did Jaune when the dinosaurs began to overtake them squawking as they ran past. They were taller than Jaune, and really did look like over-sized, feather-less ostriches with full arms for wings. The trio ran for a large, fallen tree and took shelter beneath it, waiting for the herd to finish stampeding past them.**

 **When they finally passed, the trio crawled under the log to the other side and took shelter there. Lucky they did, for a few seconds later, the tyrannosaur burst from the tree line with a roar, lunging at a pair of the charging Gallimimus. It missed it's target, but caused a third to stumble, sealing it's fate. The tyrannosaur grabbed the smaller creature in its jaws, dragged it a few feet, and then bit down even harder, shaking it from side to side, killing it. It looked up, searching for any who dare try to claim it's kill, meat hanging from it's jaws, the trio watching from their hiding place.**

" **I wanna go now." Yang whispered.**

" **Just look how it eats." Jaune said.**

" **Please!"**

" **Bet you'll never look at birds the same way again."**

"Oh, come on!" Yang said, "Haven't they been through enough without having to watch an animal get eaten?"

" **Yes." Ruby said, enraptured at the site of a tyrannosaur devouring its prey.**

" **Go now?" Yang said, almost desperate.**

" **Okay," Jaune said, checking behind him and finding a good way out. "Keep down and low me."**

 **As he and Yang crawled away, Ruby stood up to get a better view of the carnage. "Look how much blood…" she said before Jaune grabbed her bodily and pulled her away.**

"Red flag!" Tai yelled out, making Kali chuckle and Ghira nod approvingly.

 **Pyrrha was pacing around the bunker. The power should have been on by now. Something was very wrong. Nora was laid down on a metal table, Ozpin tending to her leg wound, and Qrow leaned against a wall, twirling a set of keys in one hand.**

" **This is just a delay." Ozpin said, "That's all it is. All major theme parks have delays. When they opened Schneeland in 1956, nothing worked."**

"Schnee-what?!" Weiss said, incredulously. Winter possessed an expression to match.

" **Yeah, but, Oz, if the Pirates of Menagerie breaks down, the pirates don't eat the tourists." Nora said.**

" **I can't wait any more." Pyrrha declared. "Something went wrong. I'm gonna go get the power back on."**

" **You can't just stroll down the road, kid." Qrow said, walking over to a metal locker nearby.**

" **Well, don't be too hasty," Ozpin said, checking his watch, "I mean, she's only been gone…"**

" **I'm coming with you." Said Qrow. He opened up the locker and pulled out his Harbinger. He grabbed a set of Dust bullets and put them into his pocket before checking the weapon's mecha-shift function. Ozpin pulled out a set of blueprints out of a drawer, closing it with his hip, and placed them on the table, accidentally hitting Nora's injured leg.**

" **Now," he said, turning to the correct page, "This isn't going to be like switching on the kitchen light, but I think I can follow this and talk you through it." Qrow looked over the blueprints, trying to memorize it, while Pyrrha retrieved a pair of walkie-talkies. She clipped one to her hip and connected a headset to it.**

" **It ought to be me going." Ozpin said.**

" **Why?" Pyrrha asked, not liking the possible implication.**

" **Well, because you're… and I'm…" Ozpin said, trying and failing to not sound the way he did.**

"Is he really going there right now?" Emerald asked.

"Old men and their chauvinism." Cinder said, shaking her head.

" **Look, we can discuss sexism in survival situations when I get back. Now, just walk me through this step by step. I'm on channel two."**

" **Let's go, Nikos." Qrow said, ascending the stairs.**

"You go girl!" Neo signed.

"How's the gut?" Tai asked Qrow.

"Still churning. Something's coming. I can feel it."

* * *

 **Well, I can say that I'm feeling much better thanks to all the kind words from you guys. Thankfully, my mom is coming home from Philly today, so hopefully she managed to find some closure and comfort from her siblings while out there.**

 **Originally, this was the chapter for next Tuesday, but then I realized what today is, so I pushed up the schedule. We're nearing the end here, so I really need to get my ass in gear and work on the chapters for the next movie.**

 **Also, I didn't notice this last time, but we broke 300 follows and favs! And now we're nearly at 400! You guys just keep crushing all my expectations and make writing this all worthwhile. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.**

 **You all know the drill by now. Follow, Favorite, Review, and please no more recommendations.**

 **Next Update: 2/5/19 (I promise.)**


	12. Chapter 12- Jurassic Park, Part 12

**Oh! You guys have no idea how happy I am right now. Finally- finally!- I have a word processor on my desktop. All my stories up till now have been done on my laptop at work whenever I have free time, which is usually before my shift and during my lunch break. That's an average of an hour and a half every day, max. But now, I've been writing up a bunch of side idea chapters, while saving the main movies for my laptop.**

 **Well, let's get on with the show.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 12

 **Pyrrha and Qrow exited the bunker to the sounds of chirping jungle birds. Qrow held his Harbinger at the ready in sword form with Pyrrha a step behind him. On their way to the maintenance shed, they passed the raptor pen. Qrow looked up and cursed to himself quietly. Pyrrha looked and gasped in horror; a section of the fence had been destroyed. The raptors were out. Qrow noticed a set of prints in the dirt and crouched down to inspect them. They appeared to be raptor tracks and they led into the jungle- in the same direction as their goal.**

"Well, shit." Said Sun.

"Death flags are a-flyin'." Said Neptune.

" **Oh, Gods." Pyrrha whispered.**

" **The shut-down must have turned off all the fences." Qrow reasoned, "Damn it, even Mercury knew better than to mess with raptor fences." He looked down, trying to formulate a plan. There weren't a lot of options. Without those breakers being reset, power would stay off. And even if there was another way, Emerald would be the only one who would know, and she was most likely dead. No, there was only one option left to them: push forward. "Alright, follow me." He said, as he walked into the jungle, staying on the path.**

"This cannot end well." Ilia said.

"You think?" Blake said sarcastically.

 **A few minutes later, Pyrrha could see the entrance to the shed, about a quarter-mile down the road. It was a straight shot through the jungle, with only a few fallen trees blocking the path.**

" **I can see the shed from here." She told Qrow, who was facing another direction and staring intently into the jungle, "We can make it if we run."**

" **No, we can't" Qrow said calmly.**

" **Why not?" Pyrrha asked, worried.**

" **Because we're being hunted. In the bushes straight ahead."**

" **Oh, Gods." Worry turned into terror faster than Ruby when cookies were at stake.**

" **It's alright."**

" **Like hell it is."**

" **Run." He told her, "Towards the shed. I've got her." He turned to Pyrrha, who was rooted to the spot, "Go! Now!"**

 **Pyrrha started to turn, but bumped into the fallen tree behind her. Cursing, she clumsily vaulted the log and took off as fast as she could while Qrow stalked into the jungle. Maintaining her speed, she vaulted over one log, before stepping onto another, jumping, and using a branch to swing over a tangle of branches below her. A couple logs and a dirty puddle of what she hoped was water later, she made it to the concrete bunker, swung the door open, and slammed it shut behind her. She stopped herself at the top of a staircase and stared into the black.**

" **Ms. Sustrai?" she called, hoping the engineer was still down there. When she called again and still received no answer, she got on the walkie talkie and contacted Ozpin. "Oz, I'm in." she said as she brought out and turned on a flashlight, and began to descend the stairs.**

"I don't think I like her calling me that." Emerald said.

"It is a little too professional, isn't it?" Mercury agreed.

"That's what Pyrrha's like." Jaune commented "She was always like that, kind, polite… even to her enemies."

" **Great. Now, ahead of you is a metal staircase. Go down it." he instructed.**

" **Okay, going down."**

" **After twenty or thirty feet, you'll come to a T-junction. Take a left."**

" **Just have her follow the main cables- "Nora said.**

" **I know how to read a schematic." Ozpin said indignantly.**

 **Back in the park, Jaune and the girls reached one of the electrified fences. Jaune didn't know if the power was still out, so he decided to find out. As he approached, he grabbed a stick off the ground. He climbed onto the concrete base and looked up at the warning lights; they were dark. He tossed the stick into the fence- and nothing happened.**

" **I guess that means the power is still out." He said, turning back to the girls.**

' **But there's only one way to be sure.' He thought. He reached out for the fence with both hands, and as he did, an idea came to mind. He grasped the wire and began screaming and shaking the wire. Ruby and Yang screamed in fright until he stopped and looked at them with a shit-eating grin.**

" **That's not funny." Yang pouted.**

" **That was great!" Ruby laughed.**

Everyone was laughing after that.

"Freaking smart ass!" Yang said.

"I actually pulled something similar to that on my sisters back before Beacon." He said.

"Bet they reacted to that well." Blake commented.

"You'd be surprised."

" **Well, maybe…" Jaune said as he turned back to the fence and tried to find a way for him or the girls to slip through. When a roar from the tyrannosaur came the forest behind them, the girls immediately jumped onto the concrete base and all three began to climb the fence.**

 **Back in the maintenance compound, Pyrrha turned a corner and sighed. "Dammit, dead-end."**

" **Wait a minute, wait a minute," Ozpin said, trying to figure out where he had gone wrong, "Uh, yes, there should have been a right turn- "**

 **Nora grabbed the walkie-talkie from him and began talking to Pyrrha, "Pyrrha, look above you. There should be a large bundle of cables and pipes all heading the same direction. Follow that."**

" **Okay, following the piping."**

 **Back at the fence, the trio had reached about half-way up when Yang spoke up. "Ruby, I bet I could get to the top and be on the other side before you could even get to the top." She boasted.**

" **What would give me?" Ruby asked.**

" **Respect?" Yang teased.**

" **Come on guys, it's not a race." Jaune said, trying to play the middle man.**

"It absolutely is! Ten lien on me." Yang said.

"I'll take that action." Ruby said, holding her hand out for her sister, who gave her a low-five to seal the deal.

" **I see the box," Pyrrha said, walking through a chain-link door, "Says high-voltage… yeah." She opened the cabinet and saw several rows of labels with a red button and a green button next to them.**

 **Jaune and Yang had finally made it to the top of the fence and were making their way to the other side with Ruby close behind. She struggled a bit when she made the change over, but Jaune was there to support her, reminding her to find her footing before descending.**

"Ha! Pay up short stuff!" Yang cheered. Ruby grumbled as she started rooting through her purse for her wallet.

" **Pyrrha," Ozpin said, reading from an instruction manual, "You can't throw the main switch by hand. You have to pump up the primer handle in order to get the charge. It's large, flat and grey."**

" **Alright, here goes." Pyrrha said as she began counting how many times she pushed the handle up until an indicator changed position. "Okay. Charged."**

" **Now, under the words 'Contact Position', is a round, green button, which says 'Push to Close'. Push it."**

 **Pyrrha did as instructed and immediately the labels began to glow a light red, almost pink color and the green buttons did the same.**

 **In the park, Jaune and Yang had made it safely to the other side, but Ruby was still about halfway down. Suddenly, an alarm began blaring, frightening Ruby and causing her to slip. Thankfully, she recovered quickly.**

"Oh no." Yang said, causing Ruby to stop her task and stare at the screen.

" **Now, Pyrrha, the red buttons turn on the individual park systems. Switch 'em on."**

 **Pyrrha rapidly began flipping the plastic casing off the buttons before pressing them, mouthing each one to herself. The camera slowly panned down, revealing the last three. They said 'Velociraptor Pen Fence', T-Rex Paddock Fence', and 'Perimeter Fence'.**

" **Ruby!" Jaune called up, Yang behind him, yelling at her sister to get down, "Ruby, you're gonna have to jump."**

" **Are you crazy? I'm not gonna jump!" she yelled back.**

" **Ruby, do what Dr. Arc says! Now!" Yang yelled up, jumping anxiously.**

" **Just let go. I'll count to three." Still she didn't move.**

 **Pyrrha pressed the switches for the Control Room and the Visitor's Center Tour.**

" **I'm coming up to get you!" Jaune yelled up, before he turned to Yang to reassure her that he would be coming back.**

" **Okay," Ruby said, finally collecting her nerve and moving into position to jump. "I'm gonna count to three."**

 **Pyrrha activated the Carnivore Feeder Compound and the Velociraptor Pen Fence switches.**

" **One." Ruby said. Jaune turned around.**

 **Pyrrha turned on the T-Rex Paddock Fences and went for the final switch.**

" **Two-" Ruby barely finished the word before she was electrocuted and throw back off the fence by the shock. She fell fifteen feet into Jaune's arm, causing him to fall on his back from the impact.**

Weiss had her hands over her mouth, Blake had turned away, and JNR was holding each other's hands.

"Ruby!" Yang shouted, as Summer embraced her youngest daughter, who hid her face in her mother's shoulder.

" **Ruby! RUBY!" Yang yelled, running up to Jaune, who had laid Ruby on her back and was checking her vitals.**

" **She's not breathing." He said.**

 **The lights began to come on in the underground complex. Pyrrha was smiling, ecstatic even. "Mr. Ozpin, I think we're back in business!" Suddenly, a raptor burst its head from the cables behind her, shrieking. It resembled the tyrannosaur, though it was longer, narrower and pointed. It tried to break free from the tangle of cables as Pyrrha screamed and ran out of the chain-link door, slamming it behind her as the raptor broke free from its rubber-coated prison bars and jumped at her.**

 **Pyrrha backed into a wall and felt a weight hit her shoulder. Looking down, she noticed a familiar dark-skinned hand and forearm. It was Emerald.**

" **Oh, Ms. Sustrai." Pyrrha said, relieved. She turned around to look at the woman, only to find that the limb wasn't attached to anything. She holding the bloody stump of Emerald's arm, severed at the elbow. She dropped the limb in shock, and began hyperventilating, backing up to the chain-link wall. The raptor lunged at her with a shriek, causing Pyrrha to fall forward. It then began using its teeth and claws to tear the chain-link from the frame. Pyrrha picked herself up and began to run with a limp- her ankle was probably twisted-, dragging the flashlight behind her and the raptor close behind. She ran up the stairs and slammed the door to the underground compound behind her. She continued to run until she reached the chain-link outer gate and slammed that door behind her as well. When she did, she collapsed into tears.**

"I think I'm gonna puke…" Emerald said. On cue, a brown paper bag materialized next to her. She grabbed it and ripped it open just in time for her to spew her guts out. Cinder reached out and began rubbing her back, and Mercury put his hand on her shoulder.

'Welcome to the club.' He thought.

 **As all this happened, Qrow was busy creeping through the jungle, searching for his prey, Harbinger in hand. Eventually, he heard a rustling from the ferns directly ahead of him followed by an unmistakable growling. Calmly, he took the Dust rounds from his pocket and placed them on a nearby tree. Trying to remain as quiet as possible, he shifted Harbinger into gun mode. He took one of the Dust rounds, and loaded it into the chamber before priming the firing pin and taking aim.**

 **Suddenly, the head of a raptor poked out of the foliage beside him with a hiss.**

" **Clever girl…" Qrow said before the raptor jumped on him. He tried to fight back, but it was too late. He screamed in pain as a snake slithered by the exposed head of the other raptor.**

"At least you're not going out alone missy." He said to Emerald, who had calmed down. He handed his flask to her, "Take it, you need something to wash the taste out, right?"

"Thanks." She said as she took a swig of the burning liquid. She then turned to Mercury, "By the way, you owe me some lien."

"Ah, daughter of a bastard…"

 **Jaune was busy performing CPR on the motionless Ruby, as Yang paced beside her, crying her eyes out.**

'C'mon little Red.' Torchwick thought to himself, 'You survived Beacon, you can survive this.' Despite how he acted, he didn't hold any grudges against the girl. He knew she was tough and skilled, but that was to be expected of an aspiring Huntress. More importantly, he knew she was lucky. You couldn't get through life like she did without a little bit of luck. Neo saw the look on her boss' face, and took his hand comfortingly.

' **Ruby!" Jaune yelled as he filled Ruby's lungs with air. He compressed a few more times before he tried again. This time, Ruby coughed as he pulled back. She tried to catch her breath as Jaune cradled her head in his arms. "That's it! Good girl, good girl!"**

" **Three." Ruby said weakly, her breaths heavy and ragged. Yang, despite her worry and relief, chuckled.**

The theater let out a collective sigh of relief.

"Dammit, Old Wolf!" Yang raged. "Fuck you, man! Are there gonna be any more of those?" Summer didn't even punish her daughter for her language, for she was saying exactly what Summer was thinking.

" _Maybe…"_

 **Jaune kicked in the door to the visitor's center, carrying Ruby in his arms. Based on the light, he guessed it was some time after noon. They walked to the empty cafeteria where he placed Ruby on a table. "Alright, I need to find the others, and get you to a doctor. Yang, you'll look after Ruby?" he asked the older girl, who nodded rapidly "Hey! Your hair's all sticking up." He said, patting Ruby's head. "Big Ruby, the human piece of toast." He joked, earning a small grin from Ruby. He turned to leave, saying, "I'll be back soon. I promise." And with that, he made his way back outside.**

 **Ruby got off the table and headed for the buffet, limping as she went. She stopped before an array of pies, cakes, and- most importantly- cookies. Despite the bandages on her hands, she grabbed the dessert knives and tried to find the best place to start.**

"Welp, this isn't going to end well." Yang joked.

"Ruby plus a buffet of sweets?" Weiss said, "Yeah, get ready for a sugar-induced apocalypse."

"The world is not prepared." Blake teased.

"You gonna take that, Red?" Torchwick asked.

"Well, they're not wrong…" Ruby said fairly.

'These are the people who have thwarted my plans three out of four times?' Cinder thought.

" **Pyrrha!" Jaune called. He was on the lawn outside the visitor's center. He knew that if anyone would be able to survive this place, it was her. She may be a scientist, but she was still the four-time champion of the Mistral Regional Tournament, and the pride and joy of both Sanctum and Beacon Academies. She was an incredible fighter, and almost as good at tactics as he was. He turned and saw Pyrrha coming up the hill, red pink overshirt discarded so that she only had her blue undershirt.**

 **She saw him and her relief nearly eclipsed her fear. Almost.**

" **Run." She said through gritted teeth, before breaking into a limping run herself. She threw herself at Jaune, who wrapped her into a tight hug. She reciprocated, going so far as to wrap her legs about his.**

"Well, at least things are looking up, kinda." Jaune said, trying to lighten the mood.

* * *

 **Well that was a thing. This chapter could have been longer, much longer. But felt that Jaune and Pyrrha's reunion was a good stopping point. Next week will be the finale for Jurassic Park, then we will have a pair of filler chapters, and unlike with Naruto, these filler chapters will serve an actual purpose and have a connection to the story overall.**

 **Anyways, you guys know the drill. Follow, Fav, Review and ixnay on the recommendations.**

 **Next Update: 2/12/19**


	13. Chapter 13- Jurassic Park, Finale

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 13- Jurassic Park Finale

 **Yang and Ruby were busy engorging themselves on the buffet, unaware of the danger they were in. Yang was happily chowing down on a plate of fruit and veggies, with a side of Jell-O while Ruby was methodically working her was through cakes, pies, cookies and pudding.**

"Well, there's one thing in this movie that is true to life about you, Ruby." Weiss teased, "You both have the same bottomless appetite for sweets."

"Sister!" Winter scolded.

"Now, hold on, Ice Queen Sr," Yang said, holding up her hand, "She's not wrong."

 **Ruby smiled at her sister until she noticed Yang's expression; she was looking past Ruby and whatever she saw had shaken her to her core, physically and mentally.**

 **Ruby turned around and saw the shadow of a raptor lining up with an image of itself. She quickly took Yang's hand and they ran for the kitchen. It was a large place, to be expected of a soon-to-be major theme park. There were rows of stainless-steel counters, ovens and several specialized appliances neither of the girls recognized. Yang quickly turned off all the lights before she and Ruby ran to the end of one row of counters and took shelter behind it.**

 **The raptor walked down the hallway, it's toe claw clicking with each step, as it followed their scents down to the door of the kitchen. The tip of its nose could be seen through the small window in the door to the kitchen. Ruby poked her head out just enough to see the door and the window set in it. the raptor looked in with one eye and then fully faced the door, letting out a breath with a short cry. Scared, Ruby immediately withdrew her head back into cover, not knowing if the beast had seen her or not.**

"We're in the denouement now, folks." Blake said, "This is where everything will be decided."

"Day-knew-what now?" Yang asked.

"English, please!" Sun teased.

Blake grinned at the jab. "Denouement, the final act." She explained.

"Then just say that next time. No need to get all arty on us." Yang said.

"I knew what you meant, Blake." Weiss said, trying to cheer her friend up.

 **Back in the bunker, Jaune pulled a shotgun out of the locker where Qrow had kept Harbinger. He loaded it and chambered a round. He was never much of a marksman, usually preferring close-quarters fighting, where he and Pyrrha had made for an unbeatable team. Unfortunately, he and Pyrrha had left Crocea Mors and Milo and Akouo back in Vale, so he would make do with what he had.**

" **It's just the two raptors, right?" he looked over to Pyrrha, who was tending to Nora's wounds as best she could, "You're sure the third one's contained?"**

" **Yes. Unless they figure out how to open doors." She half-joked. They both knew from Qrow how intelligent these creatures were, so it was a definite possibility.**

"Aw man, Pyrrha why you gotta jinx it like that?" Nora face-palmed.

 **As if summoned by the mere thought of it, the handle on the kitchen door began wiggling, slightly at first, until it turned all the way, allowing the door to swing open slightly. All the raptor then had to do was use its head. Literally, in fact. It used the tip of its snout to push the door open and unintentionally lock open. It looked around, hissing, knowing its prey was in here somewhere.**

"Ya see?" Nora said, exasperated, "Jinx!"

"That's usually my job." Jaune joked.

" **Ruby, what is it?" Yang whispered.**

" **It's a Velociraptor." She answered.**

 **Growing frustrated, the raptor let out a series of 'poofing' noises before letting out a loud roar. Immediately, another raptor walked into the kitchen, accidentally nudging its companion. The first raptor apparently took offense at this and nipped its partner in the neck. The second raptor hissed at the first in pain, but ultimately submitted.**

" **Follow me." Yang whispered as she led Ruby a few rows down from the raptors, crawling to keep out of sight. After making it to the third row, they turned in and kept close to the counter. One of the raptors was in the next row over, so they tried to keep their movements as quiet as possible. The raptor next to them let out a noise, causing the sisters to immediately put their back to the near wall. Hearing the raptor continue on its way, they resumed their trek in the opposite direction of the raptor.**

 **Suddenly, the raptor swept its tail over the counter top, causing pans and cooking utensils to spill over the sisters. Scared, they threw caution to the wind and crawled even faster, making it to the next row. Thankfully, their movements were covered by the crash of metal and plastic. Yang made it into the next row, but Ruby was not as lucky. She only made it as far as the end of the row before she was forced to press her back to a wall covered in cooking spoons when a raptor stuck its head under the counter. It looked around a bit and withdrew its head, and Ruby let out the breath she had been holding.**

"Too close." Ruby said, letting out a breath.

 **But luck is a heartless bitch, as proven by a soup ladle Ruby had jostled when it fell to the floor with a clang, drawing the attention of both raptors with a snarl.**

"For the love of- "Ruby yelled putting her hands over her face.

"Good Gods, Red. Did you step on a pack of black cats before you went to that island or does Fate just have a grudge against you?" Torchwick said, feeling bad for the little girl on screen.

"I don't know. Going off what has happened to me thus far in this movie, I think it might very well be both."

 **Ruby and Yang moved again, as did the raptors, one of whom jumped up onto the countertop, gaining a vantage point. Yang made it to the end of the row they were currently on, while Ruby could only move into the row before pressing her back to the counter. Yang tried to get her to move, but Ruby adamantly refused. The raptors reached Ruby's previous position, one of them sniffing at and licking the ladle that had fallen in order to get her scent.**

 **Before it could, however, Yang distracted them with a ladle of her own. She rapidly tapped it on the ground, gaining their undivided attention before she retreated into the oven that was behind her. All the raptor saw was her reflection as she tried to pull the oven closed, crying and screaming. Easy prey. Or so it thought. The beast charged her with a roar, teeth and claws bared. It lunged at Yang's reflection and bashed its head into the stainless steel, stunning it as Yang made her escape to the last row.**

"Okay, that was clever, Blondie." Mercury commented.

"Thanks, I guess..."

 **Hearing her sister's actions, Ruby was emboldened. She saw her chance in the form of the open freezer door. She looked back and, seeing that the remaining raptor wasn't looking, made a break for it. The raptor saw her and gave chase, using the counter-top in front of it to boost its initial charge. Gimp leg and all, Ruby ran as fast as she could, knowing that the animal was hot on her trail.**

 **Upon entering the freezer, she faced her next challenge: stopping and making it out before her pursuer could recover. She solved the problem by grabbing one of the storage racks, spinning herself around out of the raptor's path. Unfortunately, it didn't completely work, and she fell on her chest. The raptor followed, but couldn't find purchase on the icy floor. As a result, it crashed into the rack in front of it, spilling several steaks of beef and fish. Ruby managed to find her footing and ran out of the freezer as the raptor got to its feet, jumping at her as she closed the door on it.**

"And points for gutsy Little Red." Mercury added.

 **Yang ran to assist her sister, and, together, they trapped the beast in the freezer. As Ruby stepped to the side to catch her breath, Yang sealed the animal's fate by using a small metal pin to lock the freezer door closed. Letting out a small sigh of relief, she grabbed her sister and led her out of the kitchen.**

"And an assist for Blondie." Mercury commented.

"You keeping score or something?" Emerald said.

"No." Mercury said quickly, hiding his Scroll and the spreadsheet it bore.

"That's two raptors down at least." Ozcar commented.

"Only one, actually," Cinder corrected, "And we just saw they have the capacity to open doors, so it's likely the one Little Miss Destiny thought she trapped got out."

Jaune stood up and glared murderously at Cinder. "You so much as refer to Pyrrha again, and so help me I will kill you with my bare hands, no matter what the Old Wolf says."

"Sit down, Mr. Arc." Glynda and Logan said at once. Jaune acquiesced while Cinder grinned smugly at him.

 **Yang's raptor had recovered by this point and saw its prey running away, hissing with frustration.**

 **When Yang and Ruby reached the cafeteria, they ran into the waiting arms of Jaune and Pyrrha, who happily scooped up Ruby in a hug.**

" **It's in there!" Yang said to Jaune.**

" **Control room." Pyrrha ordered, leading the way, Jaune keeping his gun trained on the entrance to the kitchen the entire time.**

 **They entered the control room to see that all the lights and monitors were working fine.**

" **We can call for help?" Yang asked desperately.**

" **We have to reboot the system first." Pyrrha said, running to Mercury's terminal.**

" **The door locks!" Jaune said as he closed the door behind him, trying to figure out the automated door lock, "Pyrrha, boot up the door locks." He looked back up and saw the face of the raptor staring at him. It exhaled with a huff and looked down. Jaune followed it and noticed the door handle start to move. He grabbed it immediately, but the door was thrown open against him, causing him to drop his shotgun as he tried to hold it closed. Pyrrha saw this, and ran to help him, throwing herself on the ground next to him, her back to the door.**

" **Dammit, boot up the door locks!" Jaune yelled at Pyrrha as he struggled with the raptor.**

" **You can't hold it by yourself!" she yelled back as the raptor let out a shriek.**

 **Ruby was jumping up and down in panic, while Yang simply turned around and calmly took a seat at Mercury's computer. She looked it over and was amazed.**

" **It's a UNIX system." She said as Ruby ran up behind her. "I know this. It has all the files of the whole park. It tells you everything. I gotta find the right file." She began typing furiously.**

"Now that is definitely not our Yang." Taiyang commented.

"Hey!" Yang whined.

"Yang, be real." Ruby said with a quirked eyebrow. "Sure, we're children of the Internet, but neither of us is versed in computer language. You least of all, probably."

"Can we focus, please?" Weiss said, annoyed.

" **Try to reach the gun." Jaune said to Pyrrha. He had put his own back against the wall, putting his full weight against the door. Pyrrha tried to slide her foot under the strap and pull it towards her but failed.**

" **I can't get it unless I move!" she cried.**

" **Semblance?"**

" **No good, I never touched it and I can't concentrate on it without slacking off on the door."**

"Damn, that was probably our only shot." Jaune said, thinking of solutions as best he could. Pyrrha's Semblance was essentially her trump card, but it required a good deal of focus to use. The only reason she could do it so well in Beacon was because she was so intimately familiar with her weapons. She also mentioned once that she had trained herself to fall into what she called a 'battle meditation' whenever she was in a fight against multiple opponents, allowing her operate on a more primal, instinctual level, thus reducing how much concentration she needed to operate her Semblance.

 **Yang had moved over to a Zoology section of the system when the raptor managed to get its fingers in the door. Jaune slammed it closed on them and the raptor screeched in pain. Not seeing what she was looking for, Yang moved over to Physical Security, thinking she would have better luck there.**

" **This might be it, this might be the right file," she said as she selected an icon that said 'Chemical'. "This isn't the right file." Ruby jumped anxiously behind her. The raptor pulled its finger back out of the door.**

" **C'mon, Yang!" Ruby said. The raptor stuck a hand back in.**

 **Yang clicked on the Visitor's Center file and the screen changed to a schematic of the visitor's center. Several icons began popping up, all labeled 'Secured'. Jaune and Pyrrha managed to get the door fully closed just as the automatic lock slammed shut, allowing them a chance to breath. They walked over to the cheering kids, Pyrrha amazed that they had succeeded.**

" **What works?" Jaune asked.**

" **Phones, security systems. You name it, we got it!" Yang said. Jaune grabbed the phone and began dialing.**

 **In the bunker, Ozpin was helping Nora with a blanket when the phone behind them began ringing. They looked at each other in surprise before Ozpin turned around and answered.**

" **Arc?" he said.**

" **Mr. Ozpin, the phones are working." Jaune said, gun in hand.**

" **Are the children alright?"**

"Glad you have your priorities straight, Oz." Taiyang called down.

"The safety of my students is and always has been my primary concern." Ozcar replied, not that it wasn't true, but he was more scared of Glynda than what his students might say if they heard otherwise.

" **The children are fine. Call the mainland, tell 'em to send the damn Bullheads." There was a breaking of glass behind him. The raptor had thrown itself at one of the tempered glass windows, breaking it, but not shattering it. It wouldn't take many more hits before the glass finally gave.**

" **It's gonna come through the glass!" Pyrrha yelled. Jaune dropped the phone and took aim with the shotgun. He fired off four rounds, audible on the other end of the line.**

" **Arc!" Ozpin screamed into the phone, but Jaune couldn't hear him. He had dropped the gun when it jammed after the fourth shot and grabbed a nearby ladder. He managed to get everyone into the ceiling and out of reach of the raptor just as the beast burst into the control room with a roar and a hail of shattered glass. Taking no chances, he used his heel to knock over the ladder, preventing any chance of them being followed.**

 **Taking the lead, he saw a patch of light about ten feet ahead of him and headed towards it. The raptor looked up and saw the metal plates of the ceiling bending whenever someone put too much weight on them. The group was nearly to their exit when the raptor's head burst into the ceiling, directly under the panel Yang was on.**

"Shit!" Yang cursed as she jumped in her seat.

 **She screamed as she was lifted unsteadily into the air. Jaune turned and kicked the raptor in the face until it fell out of the ceiling, taking Yang with it. She hung onto the framework, her legs flailing mere feet above the fallen raptor, who quickly recovered and jumped for her. Thankfully Jaune and Pyrrha managed to pull her back up in time. Jaune hurried everyone into the ventilation system and led them to a metal grate right above the scaffolding in the main lobby. He exited first, followed by Ruby- who he helped down every step of the way- then Yang, with Pyrrha bringing up the rear.**

 **They had reached the final piece of scaffolding when they heard the roar of a raptor off to their right. wasting no time, Jaune led the group onto the rickety Apatosaurus skeleton, Yang headed for the neck, Pyrrha the tail, while Ruby stayed with Jaune on the side of the torso farthest away from the raptor, which then leapt onto the skeleton, causing it to break apart.**

 **Everything went even further south from there, if such a thing was even possible. Pyrrha fell from her section of skeleton when her weight became too much for the wires holding it up to bear, as did Yang, though she had a chance to jump down before the whole thing fell and so avoided being covered in debris. Ruby- at Jaune's behest- fell to the floor before the torso did and so was able to find a safe place to curl up as the rib cage came charging down at her, with Jaune and the raptor unwillingly coming along for the ride.**

 **Pyrrha recovered before she heard a hooting sound come from behind a plastic tarp. Looking up, she saw a faint shadowy outline in the shape of a raptor, which was confirmed when the beast lifted the tarp with its snout.**

"Called it!" Cinder cheered smugly.

 **Yang screamed as the first raptor came around the ruined skeleton with a roar. She scrambled to her feet and backed into Jaune and Ruby as the beast chased her. She almost ran into the other raptor, but Pyrrha grabbed her by the arm and shoved her behind herself.**

 **And there the four of them stood; unarmed, injured, tired and caught between two of the most intelligent killing machines on the island. The other raptor slowly stepped towards them, each step bringing it into a pouncing pose. It bared its teeth and claws and leapt at them-**

 **Only to be plucked out of the air by the jaws of the Tyrannosaur. The foursome looked up at their supremely unlikely savior as the Tyrannosaur viciously shook the raptor from side to side before slamming it on the ground, stone dead. The first raptor howled in fury before charging the Tyrant Lizard King, leaping onto its neck, causing it to roar in pain. As the Tyrannosaur chomped at the raptor, trying to get the nuisance off its neck, Jaune and the girls made a break for the front door.**

 **As they reached the bottom of the steps, Ozpin pulled up in a gas jeep, Nora taking up the middle. As Pyrrha helped the kids into the car, Jaune vaulted the front passenger door.**

" **Mr. Ozpin," he said as he climbed in, "After careful consideration, I have decided NOT to endorse your park."**

" **So have I." Ozpin replied before peeling off towards the landing pad.**

"Nice line, Vomit Boy." Yang complimented.

"Our fearless leader has his moments." Nora said cheekily.

"Few and far between as they are." Jaune mumbled.

 **Back inside, the raptor was tearing away at the Rex's neck. The Rex shook one side of its body, causing the raptor to slip just enough for the Rex to grab it. The raptor struggled to free itself, so the Rex simply chomped down on it and threw it into the skeleton of its long-dead ancestor, killing it on impact. It turned and bellowed a mighty roar of victory as the 'When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth' banner fell to the floor.**

"Badass…" Ruby whispered, wide-eyed. Summer could only giggle at her youngest and kissed he on the head.

 **The Bullhead was waiting for them at the landing pad. Pyrrha helped Yang into the aircraft, followed by Ruby, held by Ozpin. As Jaune helped Nora in, Ozpin turned and stared at his failed project, a brachiosaur crying out peacefully in the distance. It was such a grand idea, bold in how fundamentally simple it was.**

' **How then,' he thought, 'did it all go so wrong?'**

 **Jaune walked up to him and moved to help him into the ship. Ozpin jumped at the contact, still anxious and fearful, but he calmed when he saw it was only Jaune. As the airship flew over the ocean towards Menagerie, Ozpin simply stared at the chunk of amber that topped his cane and reflected, while Nora slept quietly. Jaune wanted to do the same with Pyrrha, but he was rather preoccupied as Yang and Ruby had fallen fast asleep in his arms. He smiled at Pyrrha, she had been right about him and kids. He would be a good father, should that day ever come. Pyrrha, however, gave him a weak, tired smile and looked out at the crystal-clear water.**

"Uh-oh." Yang said.

"What?" Ruby asked worried.

"I know that look. I don't think Jaune and Pyrrha are gonna be together much longer after this."

 **The Bullhead flew into the distance as the credits began to roll.**

"Well, that was definitely a thing." Yang said as she stood up and stretched out.

"Such a good movie." Ruby agreed.

"Good plot, even if there were a few holes here and there." Blake commented.

"The special effects were rather good as well." Weiss said, "Mr. Wolf, how old is this movie?"

" _At the present time, it is 26 years old in its home universe."_

"Well, I would dare say it has aged rather well." Winter agreed.

" _I am glad that you all enjoyed it. I assure you there is more to come, but first, I must decide on an order. While I do, please feel free to grab more concessions, free of charge. Ms. Belladonna, I would like to mention I have added a full sushi bar."_

Blake's ears perked up at the mere mention of fish and she began salivating. Seeing that people were staring at her, she quickly recovered. "I believe I will take you up on that. Thank you."

" _Uh huh, go wild, kitty. It's not going anywhere any time soon. I will alert you all when the time comes to return."_

* * *

 **And there we go. I hope you liked our extended-length ending to Jurassic Park. After this, we will have a pair of filler chapters before we dive into our next film- and before you guys bombard me with the same question, no I will not be giving up which movie is next. Y'all just gotta be patient and wait for it.**

 **One thing I would like to say before I sign off for this chapter, is a deeply profound thank you to all of you who read this. I was astounded when I got nearly 100 followers in the first 48 hours of posting Chapter 1 back on Thanksgiving. I wonder if this is how Jack felt when Joel gave out his phone number live at RTX a few years back. Seriously, the amount of emails I had coming in from this site every hour was insane. Now, here we are almost three months later, and we're nearing 400? You guys are amazing. I'm seriously almost crying as I write this.**

 **It genuinely keeps me going to know that I can create something people like, and actively encourage me to keep doing. So, yeah, from the bottom of my heart, Thank you all so, so much.**

 **Next Update: 2/19/19**


	14. Chapter 14- Intermission

**Ho-kay! This is the part I'm actually nervous about; original shit. Ah well, down the rabbit hole. Let's go!**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 14- Intermission

Team RWBY was chatting amongst themselves about the movie as they exited the theater to grab more sodas, popcorn, candy, and -to everyone's surprise and Ruby's delight- cookies of several different varieties. Blake, meanwhile, zipped over to the sushi bar at a speed to rival Ruby's.

Having followed them out, Winter tapped her sister on the shoulder. "Excuse me ladies," she said, "May I borrow my sister for a few moments?"

"Weiss?" Ruby asked a little nervously.

"Don't worry Ruby, it's fine." She assured her leader, "I was expecting this. Go ahead with out me, but be sure to get my snacks."

"Diet Pepsi, medium popcorn, and Sour Skittles. I remember."

"Good, and Yang?"

"Yeah, Weiss Cream?" the blonde brawler replied, using one of her least favorite nicknames.

"No more than three cookies." The ex-heiress said, pointing at Ruby.

"Awww, c'mon!"

"Three, Ruby. We've seen what happens when you have too many and I will not have you bouncing off the walls in there."

Winter walked with her sister over to the entrance so they could have some extra privacy. "Sour Skittles?" she asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"What?" Weiss said, crossing her arms over her chest in her signature pose, "Since I went to Beacon, I have learned much about myself, such as the fact that I find salty and sweet go very well together."

"If you say so, sister. Now, explain your attitude towards our brother."

Weiss's smile fell. This wasn't a topic she was exactly comfortable with, especially after that movie. "How much do you know?" she asked.

"Very little. I left for Mistral shortly after you arrived home after the Fall. When I was brought here, I was on my way back to Atlas. Mr. Logan was good enough to catch me up on the last few days of you and your team's exploits. I must say I'm impressed, both with your decision to leave, and your actions in defense of Haven."

"So, you don't know why I left?"

"No. would you mind starting there?"

"There was a gala one night. a 'charity fund raiser for Beacon' organized by Father. He asked me to sing- though ask is a very generous term- and I was basically obligated to attend the gala afterwards. I lost my temper. Accidentally summoned Mr. Pig, who then attacked one of the attendees. Would have killed her if General Ironwood hadn't dealt with him and defended me. Father stripped me of my inheritance, gave it to Whitley and placed me under house arrest. I spoke with Whitley afterwards and he basically confirmed that he was behind Father's decision."

"Mr. Pig?" Winter said with a grin.

"A boarbatusk I killed in one of my classes. I have so many summons now that I've taken to naming them, okay?" Weiss responded to her sister's teasing as she expected.

"So, you hold a grudge against Whitley for freeing you from your burden. Am I understanding this correctly?"

"Well, yes, but the inheritance was more than a burden to me, it was goal. I had dreamed of becoming a Huntress and then the head of the SDC to restore dignity to our family name, a name our Father married into for power and has since dragged through the mud. Whitley single-handedly crushed my dream, but he also freed me from the burden, allowing me to improve and grow."

"And our brother's death scene? How did that make you feel?"

"Disgusted with myself. I may hate Whitley, but he is still my brother, so when I felt a tinge of joy at seeing him get eaten…" She cried softly as Winter pulled her into a hug.

Team STRQ's reunion was no less emotional. Summer had both of her old teammates in fierce bear hugs, trying to squeeze as much affection into them as she could. The Bella-parents stood off to the side.

"Oooh, I missed you both sooo much!" she said.

"Summer, please!" Tai said, rapidly tapping his wife on the arm, "Can't breathe!"

"Wuss." Qrow said, no less strained, but not tapping out.

"Asshole!"

Remembering that, unlike her, the boys required air, Summer released them. The moment she did, Tai embraced her with a deep, loving kiss.

'Gods, she even smells the same.' He thought, catching a whiff of her signature strawberry-mint shampoo. Breaking the kiss, he held her close, a few tears finally coming forth.

"I missed you so much."

"Me too, babe, me too." She replied.

"So," Qrow said, not wanting to be left out, "Mind telling us what Heaven's like?"

"Wish I knew. I know that's where I ended up, but I guess the Old Wolf pulling me down must have messed up my memory something fierce. Can't even remember what did me in."

" _That's for the best, I assure you._ " Said a voice from behind. They turned and saw a large wolf sitting behind them. His fur was snow white, his fangs were insanely long, and his eyes sparkled with a deep intelligence. " _I do apologize, Ms. Rose, but some memories simply should not be remembered, your death being one of them."_

"Alright, but what about the bits about Paradise?" Qrow asked.

" _That, I'm afraid is beyond my power. I am a deity, Mr. Branwen, not God. There is a difference. Only the Brothers could allow someone to keep knowledge about the afterlife, and even then, only if they deemed it necessary_ "

"Qrow, don't worry so much." Summer whined, so much like her daughter, "Just be glad we're all back together."

" _Well said, Ms. Rose. Now, if I may have everybody's attention?"_ He called, everyone looking at him, _"We will be having some more viewers from this point on. First, a pair of former Beacon students who are currently attending Shade Academy in Vacuo."_

"Well, would you check this place out. Pretty swanky."

"It's big too. Must be popular."

"Coco! Velvet!" Ruby yelled, running over to the two older girls, leaving her snack at the counter. The pair looked the same as they ever had, Coco like a fashion queen, Velvet like her shy best friend. Like Caulifla and Kale.

"Hey Red," Coco said, lowering her sunglasses to get a better look at her, "Been a while. You've certainly changed. Nice outfit."

"Looking good yourself, Coco." Yang said as she sauntered up. The two had always had a playful, flirtatious banter, even at Beacon. Yang was probably the only person in the whole school who matched Coco for sheer confidence. As the girls chatted, Velvet walked over to greet Blake, who was greedily digging into various salmon and tuna rolls.

"Hey Blake, how are you?" she asked, spooking Blake, who grabbed her sushi and moved several feet away, guarding her food like a hungry animal.

"Velvet!" she said once she realized who she was. She embraced the girl while Ilia approached. "It's good to see you."

"And you too. Hey, you're not wearing your bow anymore!" Velvet was the only person in Beacon, aside from Teams RWBY and JNPR who knew about Blake's Faunus heritage. She even knew about Blake's past in the White Fang and why she left.

Blake looked embarrassed as she explained. "After Beacon, I kinda had a change of heart. I decided to stop hiding who I was, so I started with the bow." Before she could introduce Ilia, the Wolf spoke once more.

" _This next arrival will likely upset many of you, but his presence is necessary as he will be involved in future stories."_

"What the hell is this?" Adam Taurus said as he walked in the door. He looked the same but for his face. His usual White Fang mask had been discarded in favor of a piece of black cloth over his eyes.

" _This, Mr. Taurus, is your chance to gain perspective and different viewpoints, though I highly doubt you'll ever change. But, before I let you any further, I must request that you turn over your weapons."_

"You and what army, mutt?" Adam said, snapping his head towards the massive wolf.

Suddenly, an army of wolves materialized from the shadows, red-eyed and snarling. A few of the black-pelted, red-clawed ones looked like they might actively attack, but the older-looking ones with grey fur kept them in line.

" _This army, Mr. Taurus."_ Logan said with a bit of smugness, _"Everyone, meet my pack. They are my enforcers here. They will attack anyone who tries to start trouble, and unlike your White Fang followers, their loyalty knows no bounds."_

Seeing he was cornered, he laid his weapons at the wolf's feet.

" _A wise decision. And now for the final arrival. As Ms. Sustrai said in the last movie, hold onto your butts."_

"Hello again!"

Jaune dropped his drink, spilling it all over Nora and Ren's shoes, though they didn't mind; they recognized that voice too. Team JNR turned and saw Pyrrha standing in the door, wearing not her battle gear, but a snow-white dress, similar to the one she wore to the Vytal Ball.

"PYRRHA!" Nora yelled. She made to run to her sister, but Ren held her back. When she asked him why, he simply nodded at Jaune, who had slowly walked up to his old partner. He reached out and gently touched her cheek, not believing that this was real. But it was. His hand met resistance, and felt warmth from the woman he loved. He wrapped her in a fierce hug, followed by Nora and Ren.

Finally, their team was whole again, if only for now. Jaune didn't care. He just let the tears flow.

As the group flowed back into the theater, Logan, unnoticed by all, made his way to the best seat in the house, the exact center of the middle row. There sat Salem, who observed as the theater filled with more people, popcorn and soda nearby, though both looked untouched.

" _Thank you for agreeing to come, Madam. I trust things are to your liking?"_

"They are, though I'm not accustomed to these food and drink items you provided me with." Salem said as she looked at a menu.

" _Unfortunately, those are what you have to choose from. Try them, and I believe you will find them to your liking. In any case, I must return to my duties. Remember, no one will know you are here unless I will it, and your powers are actively being suppressed. For all intents and purposes, you are mortal here."_

Hearing that stirred something in Salem, something she hadn't felt in years. Not since Him. Was that… joy?

* * *

 **So, that happened. Short chapter, I know, but I didn't know exactly what to say with bringing in these characters, Pyrrha especially.**

 **Soeaking of the devil, are the Arkos fans (you know who you are) in the comments happy now? I brought her into the story, always planned to. However, don't just assume this means she's going to be some Jaune yandere now. It's not that i dislike Yanderes- in fact, Yuno Gasai is one of my favorite female anime characters, and she's basically the Queen of them- or dislike writing them, it's just that Pyrrha doesn't fit that mold to me.**

 **Also, Adam. Dun-dun-duuuun. Looking back, Adam is kind of a wasted character in canon. He and the White Fang could have been an actual threat if he hadn't gone full psycho-stalker for Blake.**

 **Finally, Coco and Velvet. They will be showing up from time to time in movies, and bonus points for anyone who gets the reference in their intro.**

 **Alright, one more filler chapter and then we start on the next movie. I promise next week will be longer.**

 **Next Update: 2/26/19**


	15. Chapter 15- Trailers

**Alright folks, this is a chapter that should answer a lot of questions.**

 **But first, I want to address a guest review that I find important.**

 **Lord Destroyer: in response to your review, since I can't PM guest reviews,**

 **1.) I believe Summer to be in her early thirties, if not her late twenties, when she died. As a result, that is the age she is seen as in the theater. That's just how my interpretation of Paradise works.  
**

 **2.) I don't think Salem will react at all regarding Oscar/Ozpin. As this takes place between Volumes 5 and 6, she has yet to be informed that Ozpin has reincarnated, let alone who is new vessel is.**

 **3.) Without a doubt, I will continue to support RT, despite what happened regarding Vic Mignonga. I personally want to believe that Vic isn't guilty of everything he is being accused of, but in our modern culture, it is damn near impossible to find the truth, and we may never know. This could very well be the end of his career.**

 **But instead of that, we should focus on the joy he brought us with his talents. He played so many amazing characters, and some that weren't so great (looking at you, OG Broly) and that is what we should focus on; his legacy, his talent, and his potential.**

 **Now, with all that said, on with the show!**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 15- Trailers

" _Now, is everybody ready to continue?"_ The Old Wolf's voice said. Summer sat with the rest of the parents, having a very lively conversation with Kali. Winter was nearby, keeping close watch on Adam, who sat a few rows down from the parents on the far side of the theater. Team JNPR, now complete, sat beside Team RWBY, Pyrrha and Jaune joined at the hands, while Coco and Velvet sat with Sun, Ilia, Neptune, Oscar and Glynda. Team CRMEN took their seats in the back of the theater, having made their own foray for snacks by sending Mercury and Roman to fetch it all. _"Good. Before we start the next film, we will be watching some trailers for upcoming features."_ The entire audience, minus an obvious few, groaned. _"Yes, yes. I feel your pain, but trust me, you don't want to miss out on these."_

The theater dimmed as the projector came to life. On the screen came the usual MPA warning, before the trailer started.

" **We always thought alien life would come from the stars…" Jaune narrated.**

 **General Ironwood, Nora and Watts ran out onto a balcony, followed by a horde of people, all looking up. Nora pointed and Ironwood looked through a pair of binoculars.**

"Alright, starting off strong." Yang commented.

" **But it came from deep beneath the Great Ocean."**

 **A fiery rift opened up under water, electric discharge arcing in all directions and bathing all around it in light.**

" **What the hell is going on?" Ironwood asked, his voice sounding like it was from a radio.**

 **A gigantic monster crashed its way through a city.**

"Is that some kind of Grimm?" Ruby asked. The beast had to be even bigger than the Goliaths she saw at Mountain Glen.

"I don't think so." Ozcar said, leaning forward.

" _It's nothing I've created at least."_ Salem thought to herself.

" **The first Kaiju made land in Argus…" Another, different monster tore its way through a suspension bridge. "The second attack hit Shion." Yet another Grimm burst through a gigantic wall. "And the third one hit Vacuo. And then we learned, this was not gonna stop. In order to fight monsters, we created monsters of our own."**

 **FROM DIRECTOR LIE REN**

 **Jaune walked into a room decked out in full white plate armor that was clearly battle-worn. He and another in similar armor were strapped in at the feet. The room turned out to be a cockpit within a giant humanoid head.**

"Another one starring me?" Jaune said.

"I wonder if you and Pyrrha will be romantic interests again." Blake commented.

"Again?" Pyrrha asked.

"Tell you later." Jaune told her.

" **The Jaeger Program was born."**

 **The head dropped onto a humanoid body and locked into place.**

" **Two pilots, our minds, our memories, connected. Man and machine become one."**

 **One of the giant robots was air-lifted out of a hangar. Two more were dropped into the ocean and walked until they were submerged.**

 **GO BIG.**

" **Today, at the edge of our hope…" Ironwood said.**

 **A monster fought one of the robots in the sea. Jaune and Ruby, dressed in matching black plate armor, fought a flying one.**

 **OR GO EXTINCT.**

" **At the end of our time,"**

 **A robot collapsed in a frozen coast.**

" **We've chosen to believe in EACH OTHER."**

 **Yang, dressed in plate as well, stepped out of the head of her robot.**

"Ah, yeah, giant robot pilot in the house."

" **Today, we face the monsters at our door…"**

 **A robot and a Kaiju charged at each other.**

" **Today, we are CANCELING the Apocalypse!" Ironwood yelled, dressed in his own black plate.**

 **What followed were a series of snaps of giant robots fighting Kaiju.**

" **It is pretty cool." Oobleck said to a scowling Torchwick.**

 **A giant robot approached a Kaiju in the middle of a city and began to wield a cargo ship as though it was a sword.**

 **PACIFIC RIM**

"Okay, I am officially hyped." Sun said.

"Amen, brother." Coco said, giving the Faunus a high-five.

 **A figure stood in a desert, starring off at the setting twin suns before her.**

 **Another, robed in white, knelt before a beeping robot of some kind.**

 **Strange looking aircraft flew into the sky somewhere on a jungle world.**

 **Soldiers, clad in gleaming white plate armor walked side-by-side down a hallway.**

 **A LONG TIME AGO, IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY...**

" **Okay, hit it!" Yang ordered. Blake threw a switch and whatever the hell they were in disappeared into space.**

"Okay, so now it's some kind of space movie." Yang said.

"I like the music. Makes everything seem more epic." Velvet commented.

 **EXPERIENCE THE MOVIE**

 **Weiss stepped out of the shadows, holding a long-barrelled pistol of some kind.**

 **Blake roared as she pounded away at a metal door.**

 **Ruby sat on the floor next to a tall, green, humanoid robot and the beeping one from before. The smaller one was projecting an image of Weiss onto the floor.**

" **Help me, Taiyang Xiao Long. You're my only hope." The projection said.**

"Hey, finally!"

"Isn't that what you said to Tai when he needed help studying for finals in third year?" Qrow teased Summer, who slapped his shouder.

 **THAT CHANGED THE WORLD**

" **I'm Ruby Rose, I'm here to rescue you." Ruby said. She was, for some reason, wearing the white plate of the soldiers.**

"I'm the hero!" Ruby cheered.

"How do you know it's not me or dad?" Yang asked.

 **Yang ran up a ramp in the middle of a gun fight- well, a gun fight with lasers, apparently.**

" **Yang Xiao Long, Captain of the Millennium Falcon." Yang said. She sat next to Blake at a table in a… less than reputable establishment. What can only be assumed is her "Millennium Falcon" flew into the sky.**

"Okay, screw it, you can be the hero Rubes. I'll take badass space-cowboy any day."

"Of course you would." Weiss rolled her eyes with a small smile.

" **Somebody has to save our skins!" Weiss said as she grabbed Ruby's laser gun and fired it down the hallway. The craft from earlier were seen approaching a large grey orb everyone thought was a moon.**

"I approve." Weiss said, smiling ear-to-ear now.

" **Let go, Ruby." Taiyang's spectral voice said.**

" **The Force is strong with this one…" A figure in black plate armor said as it flew a spaceship behind another.**

"Ten bucks says it's Raven." Qrow said.

"Done." Tai shook his hand.

"Boys!" Summer scolded, "I'm in." she put her hands on her teammates.

 **A series of combat sequences followed, culminating in a turret blowing up a spacecraft.**

" **I got it!" Ruby yelled up the ladder behind her.**

" **Great, kid. Don't get cocky!" Yang yelled down at her.**

 **Taiyang and the One in Black fought with laser swords(!).**

"WANT!" Ruby cried.

 **STAR WARS**

" **I don't know what all this trouble is about," the green robot said in Ren's voice, "But I know it must be your fault." The pink and green robot made some raspberry-esque beeps in response.**

"So, wait, is Renny not an actor in this one?" Nora asked, confused.

"His character seems to be some kind of android, so he's at least a voice actor." Winter commented.

 **A pen of steel and concrete sat in the jungle near an ocean cliff. Yang ran into the pen, hand outstretched before a quartet of Velociraptors.**

"More dinosaurs, yay!" Ruby cheered.

"Why am I in there!?" Yang yelled at herself, "Did I not get traumatized enough the first time?"

" **It's not about control." She narrated as she told the raptors to stand down. "It's a relationship." The raptors roared at her, yet she calmly stood her ground. "Based on respect."**

"I think you got over it, Yang." Ruby said, calming her sister down.

"I agree." Blake said, "Look, you're practically controlling them, and they almost killed you last time."

"Seriously, what did I miss?" Pyrrha asked, looking to anyone for an explanation.

" _Allow me, Ms. Nikos."_

Pyrrha clenched her eyes shut as information flooded into her head. "Agh, thank you, I guess."

 **The scene shifted to Yang standing in front of a small house, looking up at Cinder, who was wearing a red power suit. "These animals are thinking I gotta eat, I gotta hunt," The raptors were seen running through open jungle in the dead of night. "I gotta…" she made a pushing motion with her fist. Cinder rolled her eyes. "You gotta be able to relate to at least one of those things."**

"Classy, Yang, very classy." Cinder drawled.

"Are you my love interest in this?" Yang asked, almost appalled.

"Hot." Mercury said, earning him stomped feet from Emerald and Cinder.

"You'd figure the kid would learn by now…" Tai said, listening to the string of curses coming from the grey-haired lad.

 **A huge crowd of people could be seen walking around a large street leading up to a large conical building.**

 **A truck full of more people was seen driving through a herd of running Gallimimus.**

" **Every time we've unveiled a new attraction," Cinder said as a flare was dropped in front of a goat in a forest, people watching from a semi-concealed viewing station. "Attendance has spiked."**

 **More people watched underwater as an aquatic dinosaur devoured a large shark.**

" **That was awesome!" A younger Winter said to a much younger Weiss.**

"So, this is a new park, but this one succeeded." Weiss observed.

"Clearly. Seems they actually learned from their mistakes." Winter agreed.

"And this time, we're the stars." Weiss said proudly. Winter threw some popcorn at her playfully.

" **Corporate thought genetic modification would up the wow factor." Cinder said as she walked up a metal staircase, Yang close behind.**

"She's not wrong." Winter said. Despite her efforts, she still possessed a measure of business sense.

" **They're dinosaurs. Wow enough." Yang commented.**

"Neither is she." Ruby commented. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

 **The pair stood in an empty viewing gallery. A large eye could be seen in the jungle.**

" **She was designed to be bigger than the T. Rex." Ren said. He looked older and more refined, his hair quaffed to the side and slicked back in a ponytail.**

"Nice look, Ren." Pyrrha said.

"Thank you."

" **What happened to the sibling?" Yang asked as she inspected claw marks on the inside of the concrete pen.**

" **She ate it." Cinder replied.**

 **Yang and a Faunus worker were stopped in their tracks when a massive, clawed foot blocked their path. They turned and ran as the monster followed them, though the worker was not as lucky as Yang, who made it out alive.**

"Looks like this one might be a bit more brutal than the last one." Torchwick said.

"Are you concerned?" Cinder asked him.

"Ehh." He said, wiggling his hand in a kinda-sorta way. Neo mimicked him, showing her assent.

" **We have an asset out of containment!" Cinder yelled into a phone and she drove a white car.**

 **A team of hunters walked through the jungle, following a beeping sound.**

" **What it that?" Cinder asked.**

" **Her tracking implant. She clawed it out." Yang told her.**

" **How would it know to do that?"**

" **She remembered where they put it in."**

"Officially concerned." Weiss quipped.

 **Blood dripped onto the exposed flesh of one of the hunters before they were set upon by the monster-saurus.**

 **Yang and Cinder stood in a field of death, looking out over the dead or dying bodies of several Apatosaurs.**

" **She's killing for sport." Yang said with some disgust.**

 **Winter and Weiss sat in a large glass ball and looked behind them. A large claw punctured the glass as they screamed and were tossed around by frightened animals.**

" **You got 20,000 people." Adam said as the carnage unfolded, "You got no more boats. You don't have enough guns."**

" **If we do this," Yang told Adam, face-to-face, "We do this my way."**

"Well, I'm convinced this is an alternate universe. The day I work alongside a human, is the day I become a vegan." Adam said.

"Was that supposed to be a joke?" Yang asked Blake.

"I guess?" she responded, not completely sure, "He loves his red meat about as much as I love fish, so…"

 **The raptors were released from their pen and ran up to Yang, who was riding Bumblebee through the jungle. Yet, they did not attack her. Rather, they ran alongside her for a time before passing her.**

" **We have eyes on target" a voice said over a radio as a man in a Bullhead aimed a mini-gun out the side.**

" **Light it up!" Adam ordered.**

 **The Bullhead crashed into an aviary, releasing a variety of flying dinosaurs.**

" **Something's wrong." Blake said to Yang as she aimed her shotgun, "They're communicating."**

" **We are talking about an animal here." Cinder protested.**

" **A highly-intelligent animal." Yang told her.**

 **The flying dinosaurs attacked the visitors, one woman being carried up by a pterodactyl in front of Weiss and Winter. Another strayed too close to the water and was eaten by the aquatic dinosaur.**

"The hell is that, anyway?" Yang said, hoping Ruby could answer.

"Well, based on physiology, I can narrow it down to a few different species, but I haven't seen enough of it to make an accurate I.D." Ruby said, holding her chin in thought, "Mom?"

"No such luck, sweetie." Summer said.

"Le gasp!" Neo's sign read, making Roman snort.

 **JURASSIC WORLD**

" **Where did you get this?" came a familiar voice.**

" **On a dig, down in Thebes." Neptune replied. He sat next to Velvet, who was examining a small octagonal object, yet did nothing at all to hit on her. Velvet hit a button on the side of the box, and it opened up in intricate patterns.**

" **Neptune," she said, "I think you found something." She opened it up and saw it was a map drawn on ancient-looking paper.**

"Finally, some new faces." Coco said, patting Velvet on the back. Velvet blushed at the impending attention, and her ears fell behind her head.

" **There is an ancient legend," a narrator said. A group of camels was seen walking through the desert "Of a place known as the City of the Dead."**

"Hey, looks like this one's set back home!" Sun said excitedly.

" **More like a doorway to hell." Jaune said as he walked through some ruins in a military uniform.**

" **Where the earliest pharaohs were said to hide the wealth of Vacuo." Velvet said to Neptune and Ilia examined the map.**

"That true, bro?" Neptune asked his leader.

"It's just a legend, but yeah, that's part of it."

 **Jaune rolled out a rucksack full of weapons onto a table Velvet was sitting at.**

" **Are we going into battle?" Velvet asked with a nervous smile.**

" **There's something out there." Jaune said as he began inspecting a revolver. "Something underneath that sand." He descended into a ruin on a rope. He walked through it with a torch held before him, followed by Velvet and Neptune.**

"What, no Crocea Mors?" Jaune asked.

"Maybe you never went to Beacon?" Pyrrha theorized.

"The uniform looks military." Winter said, "If he went military instead of huntsman, he would be more proficient in firearms than hand-to-hand."

" **They came to uncover its secrets…" The narrator said.**

" **Mummies, my good sir, this is where they made the mummies." Neptune said as they walked through a room in the ruins.**

" **They sought to unlock its treasure…"**

 **Jaune fired a gun at a mirror, causing it to spin until it reflected sunlight and lit a vast treasure room.**

" **And then there was light." Velvet said.**

" **What they did…"**

 **A team of Faunus workers carried a chest into the middle of the room, surrounded by Cardin, Dove, Sky, and Oobleck. Oobleck uncovered a stack of onyx-colored tablets.**

" **Oh, my Gods," Oobleck said in wonder, "It does exist."**

" **I believe this may be the Book of the Dead." Velvet said as she placed the stack of tablets in front of her and opened the puzzle box, Jaune crouching nearby with a shotgun in hand. She placed the open box in a lock on the top tablet, turned and unlocked it.**

" **Was unleash a force, unlike any the world has ever known."**

"Yup, there's the bad news." Blake quipped.

"It's a classic trope." Ilia agreed.

 **A wall of sand chased a plane through the desert.**

" **You must not read from the book!" Oobleck yelled.**

 **A trio of Faunus workers opened a panel in the ruins and were blasted with something that melted their skins.**

"Good gods!" Weiss said, covering her mouth.

" **You have unleashed a creature we have feared for more than 3000 years." Blake said. She was dressed all in black and had a tattoo under one eye.**

" **He will regenerate, and no longer be the undead…" Oobleck said, as though reading aloud.**

 **Jaune fired a pair of revolvers at a walking corpse, doing jack all to stop it. "We are in serious trouble." He said, fear apparent on his face.**

"Gee, ya think, Vomit Boy?" Yang said.

 **Fire rained down on the city of Vacuo.**

" **Can you swim?" Jaune yell-asked Velvet, who was in nothing but a nightgown.**

" **When the occasion calls for it!" she responded indignantly.**

" **Trust me," he said as he picked her up bridal style, "It calls for it!" he tossed her overboard.**

" **Galactic Pictures invites you…"**

 **Jaune, in his military uniform, looked on the ground and saw a screaming face appear on the sand.**

" **His powers are growing." Blake said, looking to the sky.**

 **A swarm of locusts flowed into the ruins, causing everyone to scatter for cover.**

" **This just keeps getting better and better." Jaune said sarcastically, holding a sword in both hands.**

"So, wait, I DO know how to use a sword?" Jaune was confused.

"Maybe not as a primary weapon, but I'm sure you know the basics." Pyrrha reassured him.

" **To experience the adventure…"**

 **Ozpin leaned in to kiss a sleeping Velvet.**

" **It seems he has chosen his sacrifice." Ilia said to Blake.**

 **Ozpin was holding the Book of the Dead open in his arms and looked up at Velvet.**

" **That will live forever."**

" **If he turns me into a mummy, you're the first one I'm coming after." Velvet said to Jaune.**

 **THE MUMMY**

"That's not a threat by the way." Coco said.

"Wha-" Jaune turned to ask her but immediately turned back when he saw Velvet cracking her knuckles.

" **Ghira Belladonna presents: Back to the Future, a Glynda Goodwitch film." A narrator said as a strange looking car backed out of a truck.**

" **Ruby leads an ordinary life."**

"She wishes." Yang joked, remembering what her sister had said on the way to their first day at Beacon.

"Is normal knees really so much to ask for?"

" **No Rose or Xiao Long ever amounted to anything in the history of Patch." Glynda said mere inches from Ruby's face.**

" **Yeah, well history's gonna change." Ruby retorted calmly.**

" **And 1985 is not her year." The narrator said as Ruby played a single note on a guitar and the amp she was plugged into blew up in her face, throwing her backward into a couch.**

"19-what?!" Ruby said.

"I feel old just watching this trailer." Tai said.

" **But Dr. Oobleck is about to change all that." The man in question stumbled out of the weird-looking car, with Ruby catching him before he could fall.**

" **Are you telling me made a time machine… out of a Delorian?" Ruby said bewildered.**

" **He's sending Ruby 30 years back in time."**

"Oh look, more sci-fi." Weiss said with a roll of her eyes.

"Hush, you. At least they're about different things in sci-fi." Blake scolded.

"Time travel? I'm in." Yang said.

 **Ruby yelled as she drove the car into a barn(?).**

" **It works!" Oobleck yelled in triumph.**

" **Now, she's trapped in the past, about to meet her future mother, and she's making an impression on her father."**

"We're in it?" Tai was surprised.

"This'll be new." Qrow said.

"Oh, Gods, not my awkward high school phase." Summer whined.

" **She's got spirit. I like it." Taiyang said as Ruby rode past on a make-shift skateboard.**

" **Anything you do could have serious repercussions on future events!" Oobleck warned Ruby.**

" **Now, she's got to make her mother and father fall in love, and only Dr. Oobleck can help her get back to the future."**

"Oh, good luck with that." Yang laughed.

"And what does that mean?" Ruby asked indignantly.

"It means you're about as romantically subtle as Jaune." Weiss said.

"Not going to dignify that." Jaune said, putting his arm around Pyrrha, who leaned into him.

" **Are you telling me this sucker is nuclear?!" Ruby said, offscreen.**

" **Precisely." Oobleck told her, onscreen.**

" **Ruby Rose, Bartholomew Oobleck."**

" **Woah man, this is heavy." Ruby said in shock.**

" **There's that term again, heavy." Oobleck said in confusion, "Why is everything so heavy in the future? Is there something wrong with Remnant's gravitational pull?"**

 **BACK TO THE FUTURE**

" _Please keep in mind that these movies will come out sooner or later, but not one after another. After all, I do have other plans."_

"I love it when you make things ominous." Nora teased.

* * *

 **And there you go, folks. These the next five films I plan on doing. Now, let me pre-empt a few questions.**

 **1.) Might as well say it; Pacific Rim is next, and it's totally not because gen: LOCK is officially a thing now and is absolutely fucking awesome. Definitely not that.**

 **2.) I know that Pacific Rim and Jurassic World aren't exactly "classic" by any metric, but Pacific Rim was a damn good movie, and Jurassic World is the best choice for a JP sequel.**

 **3.) Yes, I will be doing the entire original Star Wars trilogy. I might do the sequel trilogy as well if we get more characters, but there is no way in HELL that I am doing the prequels. You guys can bribe me all you want, with anything you want, but it ain't happening.**

 **4.) I know I'm skipping movies with Jurassic World, but the Lost World and JP3 just aren't that enjoyable to me. Besides, World basically wrote them out of continuity. Think about it, in either World or Fallen Kingdom, did you ever, even once, hear mention of the San Diego Incident or the Kirby Incident?**

 **5.)Yes, I will do the Mummy returns, always planned to. But not Dragon Emperor.**

 **6.) Yes I am doing the entire Back to the Future trilogy. Why wouldn't I?**

 **And that's about everything. See you all next week for the next movie. Remember to Follow, Favorite, and Review, and please, no more movie requests. As you can see, I kind of have a back-log of the stuff.**

 **Next Update: 3/5/19**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hey folks, it's me again! Back with a brand spanking new movie for our favorite bunch of goofballs to react to.**

 **Sorry about this being a bit- okay, a lot later than usual. My shift today had me waking up at the ass crack of dawn for a full day's work that did not go as planned no thanks to a crazy manager. However, I managed to escape, alive, if not unharmed, and am ready to give you the next chapter in this story. Onward!**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 16

" _For our next film,"_ The Old Wolf said to his excited audience, _"We will be jumping to something a bit more recent. It may not be a classic film, like Jurassic Park, but it has earned the praise it so rightly deserves."_

"What do you think it'll be?" Ruby asked.

"Either that first one or the third." Weiss said, thinking it over, "The fourth one might also qualify, but I don't know our hosts' definition of 'classic' in regards to movies."

"Well, I wanna see that Pacific Rim flick." Sun said energetically, "Giant robots vs giant monsters? What could be better?"

The theater dimmed as the movie began.

 **Kaiju, (Animanian) Giant Beast.**

 **Jaeger, (Solitan) Hunter.**

" **When I was a kid," Jaune's voice began to narrate, "Whenever I'd feel small or lonely, I'd look up at the stars. Wondered if there was life up there. Turns out I was looking in the wrong direction."**

"Yes," Sun cheered, "Thank you, Wolf Man."

 **Electricity began crackling on screen, illuminating the surroundings. It appeared to be arcing over some kind of crevice or canyon.**

" **When alien life entered our world, it was from deep beneath the Great Ocean. A fissure between two tectonic plates. A portal between dimensions. The Breach."**

 **A fiery crack began to take shape underwater, and the electricity increased in intensity as a massive roar could be heard coming from the Breach.**

" **I was fifteen when the first Kaiju made land in Argus."**

"No…" Pyrrha said, horrified.

"What's wrong?" Jaune asked her.

"That's my hometown…" she replied.

 **A giant lizard-like monster with what appeared to be an axe head on its' face attacked a suspension bridge filled with abandoned cars. It tore through the steel and concrete construction like it was paper, cars falling into the water, followed by the bridge itself.**

 **Atlesian combat aircraft performed a strafing run on the beast, machine guns firing dust rounds that did nothing more than annoy it. One of the craft broke off from its fellows, trying to evade the claws only to be destroyed by the tail.**

" **By the time tanks, jets and missiles took it down six days and 35 miles later, three cities were destroyed. Tens of thousands of lives were lost." News footage of the damage done ran by in a pseudo-montage. "We mourned our dead, memorialized the attack, and moved on." The head of the monster was shown in a museum, easily three times bigger than any adult. "And then, only six months later, the second attack hit Shion."**

" **The acid factor of the Kaiju blood," Lisa Lavender reported in the background, "Causes a toxic phenomenon, called Kaiju Blue."**

" **And then the third one hit Vacuo." Jaune continued. "And then the fourth." A Kaiju skeleton could be seen on the deck of an Atlesian aircraft carrier.**

"Well, these things definitely aren't some new kind of Grimm." Ozcar commented.

"Indeed," Glynda agreed, "Not if they leave remains. The Grimm turn to dust after death, that is an immutable fact."

'Much as I hate to admit it, they're right.' Salem thought. 'Though the concept of creating such Grimm is intriguing…'

" **And then we learned: this was not gonna stop. This was just the beginning. We need a new weapon. The world came together, pooling its resources and throwing aside old rivalries for the sake of the greater good. To fight monsters, we created monsters of our own." A man in an intricate headset came on screen. Another with complex machinery covering his upper-left side was shown in front of a massive robot. The man clenched his fist, and the robot did the exact same. "The Jaeger program was born."**

" **There were setbacks at first." The same man could be seen carried into a medical room and be swarmed by doctors. "The neural load to interface with a Jaeger proved too much for a single pilot." The man died on the table. "A two pilot system was implemented. Left-hemisphere, right-hemisphere pilot control. We started winning." News reels glorifying the Jaegers and their pilots played. "Jaegers stopping Kaijus everywhere. But the Jaegers were only as good as their pilots. So Jaeger pilots turned into rock stars. Danger turned into propaganda. Kaijus into toys. We got really good at it. Winning. Then… then it all changed."**

"Bet you anything the pilots are all Huntsmen." Ruby commented.

"It would make sense." Weiss agreed, "Operating such machines would probably require the most skilled of warriors."

"I know you're not talking about me." Jaune joked. Pyrrha punched him softly on the shoulder.

 **The screen went black. A radio was beeping in the darkness.**

" **Crocea Mors, report to Bay 08, Level A-42. Kaiju. Code name: Knifehead. Category 3." A lady said over the P.A. system.**

 **Jaune was awake instantly, jumping out of his bunk. "Yo, Joan, wake up!" he said, pounding on the bed above him. "Movement in the breach." He stood up and did his best to wake up his sister. "Hey, c'mon! We're being deployed." Joan groaned as she struggled to wake up. Jaune grinned. She never had been a morning person.**

" **Great. Good morning." she said.**

"Wait, what?! What am I doing there?"

"And who is the babe?" Neptune asked, earning a glare from Weiss.

"That's my twin sister." Jaune replied, doubly amazed.

"Shutting up now." Neptune said.

"What? That's where you draw the line?" Sun asked his partner.

"Personal rule, Sun: Sisters of bros are off-limits."

 **WESTERN SOLITAS- 2020**

 **KAIJU WAR, YEAR 7**

 **Joan jumped down from her bed as Jaune pulled on a muscle shirt and grabbed a bottle of water from their mini-fridge. She was nearly Jaune's mirror-image, but with a few differences. Long blonde hair that came to her waist, full figure with defined muscles, and the exact same eyes, a deep sapphire blue.**

" **Kaiju's a category 3," Jaune informed her, "Biggest one yet. Code name:** _ **Knifehead**_ **." He tried to sound intimidating with the name.**

" **What time is it?" Joan asked with a groan, still trying to wake up.**

" **Two."**

" **A.M.?"**

" **Yup. What do you say? Next notch on the belt?" Jaune said, going over for a fist-bump, which Joan half-assedly returned. There was a knock at their door.**

" **Come on, Arcs. Time for the drop." A voice came from the other side. Joan walked over to the bathroom to take care of business.**

" **Hey, kid." She said to her younger brother.**

" **Yeah?" Jaune turned to face her.**

" **Don't get cocky." She said with a grin.**

"Yeah, that's definitely Joan." Jaune smiled.

"Who's the elder?" Nora asked excitedly. Information about the legendary Arc Seven was scant at best, and everyone was eager to hear about them.

"Joan is by about a minute and a half, and she loves to remind me of it every chance she gets."

" **Years before," Jaune was narrating again, "You wouldn't have picked my twin sister Joan and I for heroes.** ** **No chance.** " The pair were walking down a corridor in what appeared to be military flight suits under pilot jackets with the name Crocea Mors on the back over the Arc family crest. They walked into what looked like a laboratory. "We were never star athletes, never at the head of the class, couldn't even make it into Beacon. But we could hold our own in a fight. And it turned out we had a unique skill; we were Drift compatible." They stood in the room in black body suits. As Jaune continued talking, they were covered in metal plate armor. An engineer pulled what looked like a metal spinal column out of a padded box and attached one to each of their backs. To finish the suit up off, each twin put on a helmet with a clear visor that exposed their face.**

"Now that's definitely different." Jaune commented.

"What is?" Ren asked.

"Beacon was always _my_ dream. Joan was never super excited about it. She loved me, and supported my decision, even knew about how I got in, but she was never into the idea of 'Huntress as a career'."

"So, what does she do?" Nora asked.

"Last I heard, she was working towards a history degree up in Atlas."

"Shut up!" Weiss hissed.

 **They stepped into their cockpit, locked themselves into their harnesses and grabbed their controllers in opposite hands, Jaune on the left, Joan on the right.**

" **Good morning, Arc kids." Came a familiar voice over the radio.**

" **Nora," Jaune replied, "What's happening, sister?"**

" **How'd that date with Ren go last night, Ms. Valkyrie." Joan added.**

"Us? On a date?" Nora blushed profusely.

"Is that so hard to believe?" Ren teased, "It is an alternate reality, after all."

" **Oh, he loved me. His girlfriend, not so much." Nora replied.**

" **You're gonna get your ass kicked one day." Jaune warned her.**

"Nora, you dog!" Yang laughed.

"Sounds about right." J_PR nodded.

" **The heart wants what it wants, brother. And that bitch May is welcome to try all she wants."**

" **Engage drop, Ms. Valkyrie." Said Ironwood as he walked up behind Nora. He wore his usual Atlesian military dress uniform, but with the addition of a new patch on his left shoulder.**

"So, the General is a ranger in this?" Winter observed.

"Seriously?" Qrow said, suddenly more interested.

"What are rangers?" Velvet asked.

"Atlesian special forces." Winter explained. It was common knowledge, no harm in telling them, "They serve as advanced front line troops in war time. Every one of them is a veteran soldier who has had their Aura unlocked, but never underwent Huntsman training. Think of them as the bridge between Specialists like myself, and the regular military forces.

" **Aye, sir." Nora said, straightening up in her chair. "General Ironwood, on deck." She flipped a few switches. "Securing the Con Pod, getting' ready to drop."**

 **A pair of engineers locked the door to the cockpit and stepped back as the bridge began to retract. Inside, Joan and Jaune finished preparations.**

" **Release for drop." Joan reported, almost bored, but mostly still tired.**

" **Crocea Mors, ready for the big drop." Jaune reported more enthusiastically.**

 **The clamps holding the pod up released and it fell like a lead weight, held on course by a clamp on the neck section attached to a bar behind it. The rush from the feeling of free fall brought Joan to full consciousness, and hyped up Jaune even more. The head landed in the neck section and performed a full clockwise rotation before fully locking in place.**

"Nope. No thank you, sir. Nuh-uh" Ruby said shaking her head.

"Tai?" Summer asked her husband concerned.

"Ruby can't handle rides with only vertical momentum." Tai explained with a grin. "She can handle just about any rollercoaster out there. They could make you go up, down, side-to-side, even backwards; so long as there is some kind of horizontal momentum, she's fine. However, take that away, and only do up and down…"

"NOPE!" Ruby cried.

" **Coupling confirmed, sir." Nora reported in the control room.**

" **Engage pilot-to-pilot protocol." Ironwood ordered.**

 **In the cockpit, Jaune and Joan flipped a few final switches as the last locks moved into place and the nuclear engine roared to life in the Jaeger's chest. A pair of giant concrete doors opened before the Jaeger as it began to be moved towards them. Outside, the weather was horrible; stormy, rainy, and made all the worse by the fact the base was apparently next to the ocean. The ramp Crocea Mors was on lowered it into the surf.**

" **Crocea Mors, ready and aligned, sir." Jaune said.**

" **Rangers, this is General James Ironwood. Prepare for neural handshake."**

" **Starting in fifteen seconds." Nora said, working furiously on her keyboard.**

" **Ready to step into my head, kid?" Joan said to Jaune, jokingly.**

" **Please, after you. Ladies first and all that." He joked back to his big sister. Joan closed her eyes and let the process take over. A series of visuals flowed across the screen, every one of them focused on the twins. A family of nine all eating dinner together. The twins sharing a bedroom growing up. The twins playing in the snow with their sisters. The two of them training and applying to get into Beacon. The two comforting each other when they failed.**

"What is all this?" Weiss said.

" **The drift." Jaune narrated, "Jaeger tech. Based on DARPA jet fighter neural systems. Two pilots melding through memories with the body of a giant machine. The deeper the bond, the better you fight." The images faded and the twins sighed heavily when the linked was established.**

" **Neural handshake strong and holding." Nora reported to Ironwood, who was hovering behind her.**

" **Right hemisphere is calibrating." Joan said, raising her right arm.**

" **Left hemisphere, calibrating." Jaune said, raising both arms. As he did, Joan's left arm mirrored him. They extended their arms and quickly brought them back. Their raised their hands to head level and flexed each of their fingers one at a time. they finished off by bringing their fists together in front of their chests before returning to attention. Outside, the Jaeger matched every movement.**

"Amazing…" Ruby said, awe-struck.

"The power of the human spirit never ceases to amaze me." Ozcar said.

'Hmph. And all it took to produce was the loss of thousands of human lives.' Salem thought.

" **Arcs, your orders are to hold the Miracle Mile outside Mantle, copy?" Ironwood said over the radio.**

" **Copy that, sir." Jaune said.**

" **Sir, there is still a civilian vessel in the gulf-" Joan reported, examining the holo-map in the cockpit.**

" **Soldier," Ironwood interrupted, "You are protecting a city of two million people. You will not risk those lives for a boat that holds ten. Am I clear?"**

" **Yes sir." Joan complied, turning off the comm link.**

" **Man, that's cold." Jaune said, looking to his sister, "You know what I'm thinking."**

" **I'm in your head. I know."**

" **Then let's go fishing." Jaune said with a grin. Together they moved the Jaeger into the rough surf, eventually submerging it. "Come on, sis, put some muscle to it!"**

" **Worry about yourself, kiddo." Joan replied with a grunt.**

" **There are some things you can't fight, acts of God." Jaune narrated. "You see a hurricane coming, you have to get out of the way. But when you're in a Jaeger, suddenly, you can fight the hurricane. And you can** _ **win.**_ **"**

 **ATLESIAN COASTLINE, 10 MILE LINE**

 **In the middle of the storm, a small fishing boat was being tossed around in the chop. It honestly looked like a toy in a child's bathtub. The men onboard fought to stay there as they stacked crab cages while the captain screamed orders at them, trying to be heard over the storm.**

" **Get 'em tied down and go down below! Now!" he ordered. "How far to the mainland?" he said as he stepped into the wheel house.**

" **Seven miles off Mantle, sir." The helmsman reported**

" **But we won't even make it past the shallows!" his first mate interjected.**

"Hey, I remember them!" Sun said. "They're the ones who got me and Blake to Menagerie."

"Blake and _I._ " Weiss corrected.

"Same difference."

"Two kinds of people, Weiss. Two kinds of people." Blake patted her teammate on the shoulder reassuringly.

" **What about that island, three miles east?" the captain said, pointing to the radar.**

" **No-no, it's two miles, sir." The helmsman corrected. He looked again and corrected himself, "O-one mile, sir! It's getting closer."**

" **How the hell can it be getting closer?" the first mate yelled. The captain knew.**

 **He looked out the wind shield, and whispered, "Kaiju."**

 **As the Kaiju rose out of the water, the captain began yelling at the crew to turn, but it was too little too late. It was a massive grey beast, easily as big as the Goliaths Ruby saw outside Mountain Glen, and its' codename was accurate to say the least. Its' head was wedge shaped and looked like the tip of a combat knife. It roared when it saw the tiny ship before it, but before it could attack, the waters behind the boat began to churn. Light could be seen coming up from the depths, followed by the white and yellow body of Crocea Mors, soaking the crew to the bone as it stood up. The Jaeger let out its own roar at the Kaiju, challenging it and trying to get its attention off the boat. Crocea Mors reached down and scooped the boat up with one hand, cradling it close to its chest.**

" **Adjust the torque!" Joan told Jaune as she held the ship in her hand.**

" **I'm on it." Jaune said, pressing a few buttons and taking a fighting stance, which Crocea Mors mirrored. Knifehead swiped at Crocea Mors, but the Jaeger turned its shoulder, causing the claws to deflect off its armor plating while she placed the boat back in the water and pushed it away from the fight. The mech turned back to the monster and the real fight began.**

"It's time for a death battle!" Sun cried.

 **They started off with a quick left-right combo, and followed with a two-handed over-head slam. The Kaiju recovered quickly and jumped at the mech, attempting to get at the cockpit. Crocea Mors blocked with its' left arm, and pushed it off, grabbing the Kaiju's head before it could dodge. Its free hand began to change into some kind of weapon.**

" _ **Plasma cannon engaged."**_ **The onboard computer said. The voice sounded very familiar.**

"Was that…." Pyrrha said, tears starting to form.

"Penny." Ruby confirmed. She gave Cinder a hard look before returning to the screen.

" **Get him!" Jaune said, struggling to hold the brunt of the Kaiju's strength. "Come on, shoot him!"**

" **I'm on it! I'm on it!" Joan told him, aiming the arm cannon at the beast's gut. She fired three times, causing the Kaiju to fall back into the water.**

" **Plasma cannon discharge in the shallows, Sir!" Nora yelled to Ironwood, "Seven miles off the coastal line."**

" **Mors, what the hell is going on?" Ironwood said over the radio.**

" **Job's done, sir." Jaune reported, breathing heavily, "Lit it up twice, bagged our fifth kill."**

" **You disobeyed a direct order!"**

"They did what they had to in order ensure the maximum amount of lives saved." Summer shot back.

"They got lucky." Winter argued. "What if another Kaiju had appeared and they had no back-up?"

"In such a situation, you would be correct Ms. Schnee." Glynda said, "However, such was not true, therefore, they made the correct choice. And besides," she turned to look Winter in the eyes, "Do you really believe James would be so foolish as to not consider such a possibility? He may be many things, but careless is not one of them."

" **Respectfully, sir," Joan interjected, "We intercepted a Kaiju and saved everyone on that boat."**

" **Get back to your post now!" Ironwood turned away, not able to counter their logic.**

" **Sir, Kaiju signature rising!" Nora reported. She moved to another terminal to check the data. "That thing's still alive."**

 **Ironwood got back on the radio. "Mors! We're still getting a signature! That Kaiju is still alive!" The Twins scanned the water around where the Kaiju fell, it's blue blood glowing in the water. "Grab the boat, and get out of there now!"**

 **Suddenly, with a speed that belied its size, the Kaiju leapt out of the water at Crocea Mors with a roar. The mech grabbed the sides of the Kaiju's head before it could latch its jaws on the cockpit, holding it in place as it tried in vain to snap at them.**

" **Take it, Jaune!" Joan shouted.**

" **I got this." Jaune replied, activating his arm cannon. He moved it into position, but was intercepted when the Kaiju tore through his arm with its nose. Jaune screamed in pain, clutching his upper arm.**

" **Loccent, we've been hit!" Joan yelled into the radio, but it wasn't functioning.**

 **Alarms went off in the control room. "Left arm's gone cold, sir." Nora reported, worry evident in her voice.**

'And this is where things go to hell.' Blake thought.

 **Knifehead tore off the arm cannon, which landed in the water near the boat, and began clawing at the head of the injured Jaeger. The twins were rocked around by the impact, when the tip of a claw appeared in the ceiling.**

" **It went through the hull!" Joan yelled, "Jaune, listen to me. You need to- "she was cut off when she was torn from the cockpit completely along with a sizable chunk of the Jaeger's head.**

" **NO!" Jaune cried.**

In the theater, Jaune was gripping the arm rests so hard, the plastic groaned under the pressure. He fought back tears, and Pyrrha helped in her own way.

 **He wanted to mourn, but he didn't have time. His sadness quickly turned into rage, and he knew just where to put it. He struggled to move his controller to his other arm so he could operate the remaining arm of the Jaeger. The Kaiju slammed him into an iceberg and continued to wail on him. He let out a battle cry as he fired the plasma cannon one last time.**

 **In the control room, everything was normal on the screens.**

" **Crap." Nora said as she tried to fix things. "Second discharge fried all the comms. I'm not getting anything, sir." Ironwood walked away. In his gut, he knew; this is where everything went downhill. Before he could focus on that, he had to focus on the PR fire. How was he gonna spin this?**

 **The next day, on an icy beach, and old man and his son were walking along with a metal detector.**

" **Now, I want you to keep your eye on that gauge there." the Old Man said to his grandson(?). "Now you know what I'd like to find? I'd like to find a whole ship. That's what I'd like to find." The metal detector started beeping rapidly. "Wait, wait, wait." He found the source and told the boy to dig. "Well? What is it?"**

" **It's just an old toy." The Boy said, handing him an old metal toy robot. "We never find anything good." Suddenly the detector started beeping rapidly again.**

" **Listen!" the old man said as he tried to find the source. He couldn't find it on the ground, so he looked up and what he saw amazed him.**

 **Crocea Mors had survived it's battle with Knifehead and was making its way to shore right at the pair. It stopped a few hundred feet out, fell to its knees, and finally collapsed in the snow. The pair ran up to the Jaeger to see if anyone was hurt, but the old man told the boy to stay back. He approached the damaged head section and saw Jaune crawling out of it, his armor in disarray and covered in blood from a cut on his chest. The old man tried to offer him help, all he could think about was Joan. She was gone. His twin sister, the person he was closest to in this world, was dead. He finally collapsed into the snow, exhaustion taking him.**

 **PACIFIC RIM**

"Hell of a way to start a movie." Summer said.

"Starting to notice a pattern with these." Qrow said.

"It's only the second movie." Tai said.

"Once is chance, twice is happenstance, three times..." Summer said.

"Guess we'll see in the next one." Qrow said as he took a swig from his flask.

* * *

 **So, this chapter ended up being a helluva lot longer than I expected it to be. My goal was to do the first two scenes as an intro, but it wasn't until I was almost done with the chapter that I realized something kinda important about this movie: the scenes are either really long or damn short. There is literally no middle ground. It was also around this point that I checked the run time. 17 freaking minutes in. I could swear it was only like eight or ten!**

 **Whatever. Hope you all liked it and shit. Before I sign off, there is one thing I would like to address. Some of my dear readers still want me to do the Marvel movies, despite my earlier explanations. Well, even though I refuse to do it, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. "The Infinite Realities of Jaune Arc" by Genital WarThunder- the fanfic that directly inspired this one- quite recently started in on the MCU with Avengers 1, and hot damn did he do an amazing job on it. If you wanna see Marvel RWBY, I highly recommend you check that story out.**

 **So, keep that in mind, and I'll see you next Tuesday. Don't forget to Follow, Favorite, and Review. Bye!**

 **Next Update: 3/12/19**


	17. Chapter 17- Pacific Rim, Part 2

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 17

" **The Kaiju are learning our defenses." Ozpin's disembodied voice said, "They're adapting. Evolving. And we're losing Jaegers faster than we can build them. Kuroyuri, Kuo Kuana, Mantle. Category 4 Kaijus are now coming through the Breach. I think even you can see, General, this is no longer the most sound strategy." Ironwood stood before a wall of monitors, each one bearing the face of a diplomat. He was flanked by Taiyang on one side, and Nora on the other.**

 **5 YEARS LATER**

 **WESTERN SOLITAS BASE- CLOSING DAY**

" **The frequency of the attacks has increased." Ozpin continued, "The Jaegers are not the most viable line of defense anymore."**

"Pfft, not the most cost effective he means." Winter scoffed. "This is why I can't stand politicians."

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked her.

"The war isn't going their way, and they don't want to pay for something that can't be guaranteed."

"They'll give up instead of taking the risk." Blake finished. She understood the reasoning, not just from her novels, but from her time in the White Fang.

" **I am aware." Ironwood spoke up. "Those** _ **are**_ **my Rangers that die every time a Jaeger falls, which is why I'm asking you for one last chance, one last assault with everything we've got- "**

" **Listen to me!" Lionheart said, "The Jaeger program is dead, General. On the other hand, the Coastal Wall program is a promising option."**

"They think a wall will keep out gigantic monsters from what might as well be the very depths of hell?" Sun laughed. "I think I agree with Big Sister Schnee. These guys are pansies."

" **The world appreciates everything you and your men have done, but it's over." Ozpin said, "We will authorize you to take all remaining Jaegers to the last battle station: Atlas. We're prepared to fund you for the next eight months, while the Coastal Wall is completed. After that, you'll receive no further support."**

" **You have your answer, General." Glynda said. One by one, the screens winked out, leaving the trio alone with their thoughts.**

" **So, what? That's it? We're done?" Nora asked, rage evident in her voice.**

" **Suits and ties and flashy smiles. That's all they are, Jimmy." Taiyang said. Knowing what his old friend was thinking.**

 **Ironwood took a pill from a small metal case and swallowed it. "We don't need 'em." He said with determination.**

"This is a side of James I can like." Glynda commented.

"I should hope so, you've only ever seen him as an administrator and a politician." Winter said, "You've yet to see why he became a general of the Atlas military."

 **A whistle blew over a construction site in a frozen tundra.**

" **WALL OF LIFE"**

 **SITKA, SOLITAS- 50 MILES WEST OF MANTLE.**

 **A nearby sign read "Solitan East-West Anti-Kaiju Wall". The estimated time of completion was graffitied over with the word 'NEVER'.**

" **Ration cards, guys!" a foreman called out, gathering the men and women, human and faunus around him. Jaune was among them. He looked much the same, save for the slight stubble of a beard on his face and the muted glint in his eyes.**

"Ration cards?" Ruby asked.

"During times of war," Winter explained, "All things must be rationed in order to avoid a crippling shortage. Food, water, fuel, everything is strictly managed by the state."

" **Alright, guys, I got good news and I got bad news. Which do you want first?" the foreman asked.**

" **Bad news?" the man next to Jaune said, raising his hand.**

" **Bad news? Three guys died yesterday, working at the top of the wall." The news sent mutters throughout the crowd.**

" **What's the good news?" someone else yelled out.**

" **Good news? I got three new job openings. Top of the wall." The muttering was no better. "Alright! Who wants to work? Who wants to eat?"**

 **Jaune was sent to work at welding several braces to the wall, along with a company's worth of other men and women. He finished with his last piece and stood up, looking over the wall. It was an enormous structure, easily as tall as Crocea Mors had been, but he doubted how effective it would be; it was basically a shell of steel and concrete, and an unfinished one at that. He figured that this section alone would take another decade of constant work to finish. Maybe less if they got enough people to work on it 24/7. But that was about as likely as him sealing the Breach single-handedly.**

 **He descended from his spot back to the ground level, where he stowed his gear away for the day. As he did, a news report was coming on the community TVs.**

" **I am here in Attika, on the coast of Vale," Said a panicked Lisa Lavender, "Where earlier today, yet another Kaiju attack took place. The Kaiju, an enormous Category 4, broke through the coastal wall in less than an hour!" a gigantic grey-skinned beast with a face in the shape of an axe head, broke through the solid steel and concrete with ease and headed for the city. "The Wall of Life had been deemed 'unbreachable' by its builders."**

" **Why the hell we even building this thing?" a worker yelled out angrily.**

" **Th-that thing tore through the wall like it was nothing…" another worker said, horrified.**

" **Ironically," Lisa continued, "It was the recently decommissioned Jaeger, Ember Celica, piloted by Tai and Yang Xiao Long, that finally took the beast down."**

 **A yellow and black Jaeger charged the Kaiju, pounding it with a one-two combo before knocking it away. Its chest opened up and six barrels popped out of its chest, though, instead of bullets, missiles flew out. Each one found it's mark and the Kaiju fell.**

" **Look, they decommissioned the Jaeger Program because of mediocre pilots, it's that simple." Yang told a reporter. "That's Ember Celica's tenth kill to date. It's a new record." She bragged smugly.**

"Wow, Yang, you compensating for something?" Blake joked.

"Why am I the bad guy here?"

" **And you're still going to Atlas? Even at a time like this?" the reporter asked.**

" **Well, orders are orders, what else am I supposed to do?"**

 **Jaune pushed his way through the crowd, having heard enough from the pompous blonde. He knew her dad, Taiyang- or at least he thought he did, they had only met the once- and he never struck Jaune to be like that. As he walked, he heard the sounds of a chopper flying overhead. He went to the worker's entrance and saw a military Bullhead land about fifty feet away, and out stepped the one man he never expected to see again.**

 **James Ironwood looked the same as he had five years ago, though maybe a bit greyer around the temples. He was prepared for the cold, though, growing up in Atlas as he had, one would think he was more resistant.**

" **Mr. Arc." He said when he spotted Jaune.**

" **General." Jaune replied, meeting him halfway from the entrance. "Looking sharp."**

" **Long time."**

" **Five years, four months."**

" **Can I have a word?" Jaune beckoned him in and led him to a secluded part of the wall.**

" **Step into my office, General." He said as he took a seat on a nearby piece of rubble.**

" **Took me a while to find you." Ironwood said. "Anchorage, Sheldon Point, - "**

" **Well, man in my position travels with the wall, chasing shifts to make a livin'. What do you want?" Jaune really didn't really feel like bandying words with the Old Man. Just get to the point already.**

"Insolent little…" Winter growled, biting her finger to hold in her rage.

"Lighten up, Ice Queen." Qrow said, "He's allowed to be bitter after what happened."

" **I've spent the last six months activating everything I can get my hands on." He told Jaune honestly. "There's an old Jaeger, a Mark 3. You may know it. It needs a pilot."**

' **So that's what this is about.' Jaune thought. "I'm guessing I wasn't your first choice."**

" **You** _ **are**_ **my first choice. All the other Mark 3 pilots are dead."**

 **Jaune stood and walked over next to the general. "Look, I can't have anyone else in my head again." His turn to be honest. "I'm done. I was still connected to Joan when she died. I can' go through that again, I'm sorry."**

 **As he walked away, Ironwood turned around on the spot. "Haven't you heard, Mr. Arc? The world is coming to an end. So where would you rather die? Here," he indicated the wall that was most likely never going to work against a Kaiju, "Or in a Jaeger?"**

"Good question. Jaune?" Pyrrha turned to him.

"Can't say about this me, but I would rather die trying than die knowing I had a chance to do something about it."

"As expected of our fearless leader." Nora bragged.

"Fool." Cinder said so that only the back row could hear.

"But an admirable fool." Torchwick commented, with Neo agreeing.

 **The Bullhead flew over to a military base built into a cliffside under the flying city of Atlas, Mantle nowhere to be seen.**

 **ATLAS BAY**

 **1800 HOURS**

 **SHATTERDOME JAEGER STATION**

 **The air ship landed on the helipad, Ruby waiting nearby with some umbrellas. Ironwood stepped out, followed by Jaune, and took the proffered umbrella.**

" **Mr. Arc, this is Ruby Rose. One of our brightest. She's the head of our Mark 3 Restoration Program. She personally selected your co-pilot candidates."**

" _ **I imagined him differently.**_ **" Ruby said in the native language of Anima. Before Ironwood could warn her, Jaune spoke.**

" **Hey,** _ **better or worse?**_ **" he said with a grin.**

 **Her face darkened in embarrassment. "** _ **I'm sorry, Mr. Arc. I've heard a lot about you.**_ **"**

"Ruby? Jaune? You two speak Animanian?" Pyrrha was amazed.

"I studied it back in Signal." Ruby explained. "I'm not fluent, but I can get by."

"My family went on a lot of family trips to Mistral growing up, so I learned enough to get by conversationally."

 **He gave her a forgiving nod. No point holding a grudge because of ignorance. They walked inside, getting away from the rain.**

" **We will tour the facility first," Ironwood said, leading them to an industrial elevator, "Then Ms. Rose will show you to your Jaeger."**

" **Hold the door please!"**

" **Wait for us!"**

 **A pair of men ran into the elevator, one a skinny man with messy green hair, the other just as skinny with greying black hair and a very fine mustache.**

 **As the elevator descended, the man with green hair began fussing over a large specimen in a tank.**

" **Stay back! Kaiju specimens are extremely rare. So look, but don't touch, please." He said.**

"Okay, I know Dr. Oobleck, but who's the other guy, and why does looking at him give me the willies?" Yang asked.

"Arthur Watts." Winter said, "A disgraced Atlesian scientist."

"This Barty looks significantly younger, don't you think, Glynda?" Ozcar observed.

"Indeed. He looks the way he did back when we were in Beacon together."

" **Mr. Arc, this is our research team." Ironwood explained. "Dr. Watts and Dr. Oobleck."**

" **Please, call me Barty." Oobleck said amiably. "Only my mother calls me doctor. Arthur, these are human beings, care to say hello?"**

" **Bartholomew, how many times must I ask you not to call me by my name?" Watts said irritably. "I swear, you're just as bad as Cinder."**

 **Oobleck let the insult side as he rolled his sleeves up, showing a series of tattoos.**

" **Who's that?" Jaune asked, indicating a tattoo of a Kaiju on the inside of one forearm. "Yamarashi?"**

" **Oh, this little Kaiju?" Oobleck pointed at the tattoo. "Yeah, you got a good eye."**

" **My sister and I took him down in 2017."**

" **You know he was one of the biggest Category 3s ever? He was 2500 tons of awesome." Noticing the stares, he immediately backtracked, stumbling over his words.**

"Well, looks like young Oobleck was about as smooth as Ruby." Yang teased.

"Unfortunately, you're not wrong." Glynda sighed.

" **Do excuse him. He's a Kaiju groupie, he loves them." Watts said condescendingly.**

" **Shut up, Arthur, I don't love them. I study them. And unlike most people, I wanna see one alive and up close one day."**

" **Trust me," Jaune said, putting his hand on the young man's shoulder, "You don't want to." He, Ironwood, and Ruby exited the elevator. "So that's your research division?"**

" **Things have changed." Ironwood said as he opened a large bulkhead door. "We're not an army anymore, Mr. Arc. We're the resistance. Welcome to the Shatterdome." They walked into a huge Jaeger hangar bay filled with workers of all kinds; technicians, engineers, laborers, everything they needed to keep everything running smoothly. Above the entrance was a massive countdown timer. "The War Clock." Ironwood explained. "We reset it after every Kaiju attack. Keeps everyone focused. The frequency of attacks is accelerating."**

" **How long until the next reset?" Jaune asked, almost getting run over by a truck.**

" **A week, if we're lucky. My experts tell me there'll be another attack even before then. This complex used to launch thirty Jaegers in five bays just like this one. Now we've only got four Jaegers left."**

" **I didn't know it was this bad." Jaune said. Had he known, perhaps he would have come back sooner.**

" **It** _ **is**_ **that bad." He pointed to a white Jaeger, undergoing minor repairs. "White Scion, Atlas. One of the greatest. Assembled in Atlas proper. Full titanium core, no alloys. Fifty diesel engines per muscle strand. Deadly, precise fighter. She's piloted by the Schnee siblings, local kids. They've successfully defended Mantle and Atlas seven times. They use the Thunder Cloud Formation."**

" **Hell yeah, triple arm technique." Jaune said, remembering the machine's past exploits.**

" **Very** **effective."**

 **Jaune looked back and saw Winter and Weiss playing basketball with Whitley. Some form of 2-on-1 that Winter was on the losing side of.**

"Well, that's nice to see." Weiss said.

"What, you and your brother getting along, or your big sister getting her butt handed to her by her little siblings?" Nora asked.

"Yes." Weiss smiled.

" **That tank?" he pointed to a Jaeger coming back in from a deployment. "Last of the F-90s. Pack Alpha. First generation Mark 1. Heaviest and oldest Jaeger in the service, but make no mistake, Mr. Arc, it's a brutal war machine. And those two, Blake and Ilia Belladonna."**

'I am suddenly VERY interested.' Ilia thought, turning pink.

" **I've heard of 'em." Jaune said. "Perimeter Patrol. Menagerie Wall."**

" **Under their watch it stayed unbreached for six years.** _ **Six. Years.**_ **"**

 **Nearby, another Jaeger was being pulled into dock.**

" **Tai! Yang!" Ironwood called out and beckoned them over.**

" **Stay here." Tai told his daughter as he took their dog along with him.**

" **Zwei! Come here! Remember me?" Ruby said.**

 **Don't drool over Ms. Rose." Tai told the corgi as he trotted over to Ruby. "She's a pretty girl, and he gets all wound up."**

"Wait, am I not your daughter in this, Dad?" Ruby asked, confused.

"I guess so, sis." Yang said.

" **Jaune, this is Taiyang Xiao Long, an old friend from the Mark 1 glory days." Ironwood introduced him.**

" **I know you, man." Tai said, shaking Jaune's hand, "We rode together before."**

" **We did, sir. Six years ago. My sister and I. It was a three Jaeger team drop."**

" **That's right, Mistral. I'm sorry about your sister."**

" **Thank you, sir…"**

" **Tai and his daughter, Yang, will be running point for us in Ember Celica." Ironwood indicated the sleeker-looking Jaeger behind them, "Fastest Jaeger in the world. First and last of the Mark 5s. Vale decommissioned it a day before the Attika attack."**

" **Yeah, it's a good thing we were still around."**

" **Wait a minute, running point on what?" Jaune asked. "You haven't told me what I'm doing here."**

" **We're going for the Breach, Mr. Arc." Ironwood explained. "We're gonna strap a 2400-pound thermonuclear warhead to Celica's back. Detonate an equivalent of 1.2 million pounds of TNT, and you and two other Jaegers will be running defense for them."**

"Nora, how big of a boom is that?" Jaune asked their resident explosives expert.

"Big." Nora replied simply.

"Um, okay, but how big?"

"Big." she said again, "Like 'wipe out an entire section of Vale' big."

 **Jaune was bewildered. "I thought you said we were the resistance. Where'd you get something like that?"**

" **See the Schnees back there? They can get us anything." He turned to Tai, "Tai, shall we?"**

" **Good to see you again, man." Tai said as the pair walked off.**

" **I'll show you to your Jaeger now." Ruby said.**

" **I'll be right with you, I promise, just gimme a second?" he asked her. When she nodded, he ran after Ironwood and Taiyang.**

" **General!" he caught up with the men, and lowered his voice. "Sir, we've gone after the Breach before. Nothing goes through. What's changed?"**

" **I have a plan, I need you ready. That is all."**

* * *

 **So, who saw the finale for gen:Lock? That, uh, that was definitely a thing. Much less of a thing was the premiere of RvB season 17. After the last two seasons, I really don't expect much from this season except for disappointment. Ah well, such is life.**

 **I understand a few of you guys were hoping for Blake as Mako here, but I figured if Jaune was gonna be paired with anyone other than Pyrrha, I should probably start with Ruby. I think the Jaune-related ship popularity rankings go something like Arkos, then Lancaster, then White Knight. Don't worry though, Knightshade will happen eventually. I just want to shed light on some of the other possibilities.**

 **Don't forget to Follow, Favorite and leave a review, and I will catch you all next week. Later!**

 **Next Update: 3/19/19**


	18. Chapter 18- Pacific Rim, Part 3

**Hello and welcome back to RWBY Watches Classic Movies. I apologize for this chapter being a bit later than usual, again, but work schedules are a bitch. I'm usually and evening shift worker, which is why I usually put these out in the morning. Lately, however, that has changed and it is more than likely that it will continue next week.**

 **So, down to business. Enjoy!**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 18

"Can we just discuss how absolutely badass you all looked in that last scene?" Nora asked.

"Ms. Valkyrie, please watch your language." Glynda sighed.

"Now, now, Glynda," Ozcar said, "Should we really admonish them for making accurate statements?"

"Please don't encourage them, Ozpin."

" _Ozpin?!"_ Salem, thought, looking at the young man sitting next to the older woman. _"So, he's reincarnated already? My plans must accelerate."_ She tried to contain her rage as best she could.

 **Watts muttered to himself as he worked on a complicated math equation spread over several large chalkboards. Ironwood and Tai waited patiently until he was ready to explain. Nearby, Oobleck was busy dissecting a piece of a Kaiju.**

"The hell is he working on?" Weiss asked, unable to work out the math. "I can't even understand that math, much less decipher his writing."

"His chicken scratch is as bad as mine." Ruby commented.

"I assume it's some sort of predictive model." Winter hypothesized, "Worry not sister, this math is higher than anything we've ever studied."

" **In the beginning," he started, "The Kaiju attacks were spaced by 24 weeks. Then 12, then six, then every two weeks." He descended the ladder he stood on and moved one of the chalkboards to reveal move math followed by a large four in a box. "Then last one in Attika was a week. In four days we could be seeing a Kaiju every eight hours until they are coming every six minutes. General, we should witness a double event within seven days."**

" **Dr. Watts, I am to drop a 2,400-lbs thermonuclear bomb. I need** _ **more**_ **than a prediction." Ironwood said.**

"Congrats, Ice Queen, you called it." Qrow said.

"Silence, drunkard." She shot back.

"What? It was a compliment!"

" **Well, that's a problem," Oobleck said, looking up from his work, "See, cuz he actually** _ **can't**_ **give you more than a prediction." He tossed the bit of Kaiju gut he was holding at a table, which it fell off of.**

" **No Kaiju entrails over my side of the room! You know the rules." Watts said angrily as he kicked the offending organ over a painted yellow line on the floor. "Every bloody day, he's incessant- "**

" **Gents!" Tai barked, breaking up the fight. "On point."**

" **Numbers do not lie." Watts said firmly. "Politics and poetry. Promises. These are lies. Numbers are as close as we get to the handwriting of the Gods."**

"An interesting philosophy." Glynda commented.

"And accurate, to a degree." Winter agreed.

" **What?" Oobleck laughed.**

" **Would you give me a moment?" he snapped, annoyed at his colleague, "There** _ **will**_ **be a double event. And shortly thereafter three, and then four, - "**

" **And then we're dead." Ironwood finished. "I get it."**

" **Alas, this is where the good news comes."**

"If certain death is the bad news, what could the good news possibly be?" Velvet commented.

"Hey, Sun," Coco whispered to the monkey faunus, "That girl okay?" she pointed at Ilia.

Sun waved his hand in front of her eyes, receiving no reaction. "I think she's catatonic after seeing her and Blake together." Coco gave him a confused look. "I'll explain later."

 **He walked over to a holographic projector and began to draw a crude diagram. "Here is our universe," he drew a circle with his fingers, "And here is theirs." He drew another below the first. "And this is what we call 'The Throat', the passage between the Breach and us. We know it's atomic in nature. I predict that the increased traffic will force the Breach to stabilize and remain open long enough to get the device through, and collapse its' structure."**

" **Yeah, and that's where I gotta chime in." Oobleck said, "Because, really, I wouldn't want to go in there with that limited amount of information."**

"How is that limited?" Yang asked. "He has enough information to form a plan. That's good enough for me."

"But it's all based on predictions." Jaune said. "If I was going to perform something like they're planning, I would want every bit of info I could. All they know is that it connects two worlds, allows the Kaiju to pass through and that it is somehow atomic."

"What more would you need to know?"

"How can the Kaiju get through but we can't? How numerous are they? If there's enough of them to come through every two weeks, why haven't they accelerated the attacks sooner? Why didn't they just wipe us out when they first came through? There's so many questions, and not enough answers that aren't speculation."

"Mr. Arc, have you ever considered joining the military?" Winter said, trying to sound casual with her headhunting.

" **Bartholomew, don't embarrass yourself." Arthur groaned.**

" **Just, hear me out for a second, please." He sighed when the two leaders came over to him. "Why do we judge the Kaiju on a Category system? It's because each Kaiju is completely different from the next, right? you see what I'm saying? One looks like a shark and one looks like a fish- "**

" **Dr. Oobleck, just get to the point." Ironwood sighed.**

" **The point is I don't think they're all completely different after all." He pulled over some squares of meat that clearly came from a Kaiju. "Now, these are some samples I've collected. Now, this one was harvested in Attika." He pointed to the one on the left, "And this," he pointed to the other, "Was harvested in Shion. Six years ago. They have the same exact DNA. They're clones."**

"What does this information tell you Mr. Arc?" Ozcar said, wanting to test his student.

"That the Kaiju can be mass-produced somehow. Which once again raises the question; why are the human and faunus races still alive?"

"That's true." Pyrrha agreed. "Considering the damage done in the very first attack, if the Kaiju had sent more than one in the initial attack, nobody would have survived."

"Which suggests that there's a plan."

"Which suggests intelligence."

'Atlas would benefit from having him in our ranks.' Winter thought.

 **While the leaders took in the information, Watts chimed in, "And this is the part where he goes completely crazy." He said smugly.**

 **Oobleck walked up to a tank with what looked like some sort of organ in it floating in yellow-green liquid. "There's so much more to the Kaiju than we understand, and we've really only scratched the surface. This is a piece of a Kaiju's brain. Now, unfortunately, it's damaged. It's a little weak, but it's still alive. Now, I think I can tap into it, using the same technology that allows the two Jaeger pilots to share a neural bridge. Now think about that. I could tell you exactly how to get through the Breach yourselves."**

"In theory, at least." Jaune said.

"What? That sounded like it was exactly the kind of information you need." Nora said, confused.

"It is." Jaune explained, "But it never hurts to take everything with a healthy dose of skepticism."

"You've become rather jaded haven't you?" Pyrrha said.

"Trauma changes people, for better or worse." Jaune said.

"I'm sorry." She whispered.

Jaune wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead. "So am I."

" **You're suggesting that we initiate a drift with a Kaiju?" Tai asked unconvinced.**

" **Well, not an entire Kaiju, just a tiny piece of its brain."**

" **The neural surge would be too much for the human brain to handle." Tai said.**

" **I agree." Ironwood said.**

" **I don't agree." Oobleck protested.**

"Why would it be any different?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know." Weiss admitted, "Maybe it has to do with the size of the brains or the bodies?"

"I know the answer." Blake said.

"What is it?" Nora asked.

"Because plot." Blake said with a smirk.

" **Watts, I'd like** _ **your**_ **data on my desk, ASAP."**

" **Of course, sir." Watts said smugly.**

 **Oobleck continued to protest, but Ironwood cut him off with a hint of warning. "Thank you, Bart."**

" **Bartholomew," Watts said when the leaders walked off, "I know you're desperate to be right so you've not wasted your life being a Kaiju groupie, but it's not going to work."**

" **It** _ **is**_ **going to work, Arthur," Oobleck said "And I'll tell you something else: fortune favors the bold, dude."**

" **You heard them." Watts fired back. "They won't give you the equipment, and even if they did, you'd kill yourself!"**

" **Or I'd be a rock star."**

"Okay, now that sounds like the Oobleck I know." Glynda said with a smile.

"Indeed. He would never allow something like outside doubt to stop him." Ozcar agreed.

"He's going to do it anyway and it's most likely going to backfire spectacularly." Blake said.

"You're making a lot of assumptions here…" Yang said.

"Assumptions based on personal knowledge." Blake countered.

 **Ruby led Jaune into a busy work area filled with the sounds of heavy machinery and blow torches, sounds Jaune had become all too familiar with in recent years.**

" **There she is." Ruby said, pointing past the edge of a catwalk. Jaune looked and his chest filled with joy.**

" **Oh my god." He whispered, walking forward to lean on the railing. There stood Crocea Mors in all her white and gold glory. "Crocea Mors. Look at her. So beautiful. She looks like new."**

" **Better than new." Ruby told him, proud of the improvements that had been made. "She has a double-core nuclear reactor. She's one of a kind."**

" **She always was."**

"Hey Ruby, remind you of anyone?" Yang teased.

As the sisters bickered, Jaune pulled Crocea Mors from his belt and smiled as he remembered everything he and the weapon had been through. He felt he could identify with what his big-screen counterpart was saying.

" **How do ya like your ride, Jauney-boy?" said a familiar voice. Jaune turned and saw Nora walking up behind them. "Solid iron hull. No alloys. Forty diesel engines per muscle strand and a new fluid synapse system."**

 **Jaune dropped his bag and wrapped Nora in a fierce hug that she returned three-fold. "Nora! It's good to see you, girl."**

" **Good to see you too, brother." Nora said, "It's just like old times. They'll never stop us."**

"Nora, may you never change." Pyrrha said. Nora beamed and laid her head in Pyrrha's lap.

 **After his little reunion, Ruby led him to his quarters. They were spartan, but that was to be expected of an empty room.**

" **So, what's your story?" Jaune asked, putting his bag on his bed and starting to unload some personal items. "Restoring old Jaegers, showing has-beens like me around. That can't be it. You a pilot?"**

" **No." Ruby said with an embarrassed smile. "But I want to be, more than anything."**

" **What's your simulator score?"**

" **51 drops, 51 kills."**

" **Damn, that's impressive. But you're not one of the candidates tomorrow?"**

" **I am not. The general has his reasons."**

"Sounds like a dad answer, doesn't it?" Yang said.

"Oh yeah." Ruby agreed

"I wouldn't know." Weiss said. "My father never paid much attention to us unless he directly profited from it in some way."

"Gods, the more I hear about your old man, the more I wanna deck him right in his stupid face." Yang said, eyes flashing briefly.

"Let me take a swing after." Blake said.

"Hey, just so we're clear, Winter and I have first dibs on that, got it?" Weiss said.

Blake and Yang looked at each other. Blake raised an eyebrow, and Yang shrugged in return. Then turned back to Weiss. "Fair enough." they said together.

" **Yeah, he always does, doesn't he? But with 51 kills, I can't imagine what they'd be." He started leafing through a stack of old pictures.**

" **I hope you approve of my choices." She said, changing the subject. "I've studied your fighting techniques and strategy. Even… Solitas."**

" **And what do you think?"**

" **I think… you're unpredictable. You have a habit of deviating from standard combat techniques. You take risks and injure yourself and your crew… I don't think you're the right man for this mission."**

 **Jaune nodded at the criticism. "Well, thank you for your honesty. Chances are you're right. But one day, when you're a pilot, you're gonna see that in combat you make decisions. And then you gotta live with the consequences." He looked down at the photos, resting on one of him and Joan, "That's what I'm trying to do."**

"Jeez, could I be any more edgy?" Jaune said, making Pyrrha chuckle.

 **Ruby walked across the room to her own quarters and opened the door with a huff. Who was** _ **he**_ **to lecture her? He was just some over-the-hill ex-pilot. What did he know about anything, much less how she felt? She turned around and saw him walk into the doorway with no shirt on. She noticed how toned his body was, but more than that, she saw the scars that covered his chest. Most had paled over the years, but one on his left side was still a light pink. When she saw that he had noticed her staring, she quickly shut the door to her room, red as her namesake.**

 **Jaune saw this, and closed his door with a frown. She couldn't fool him. Seven sisters had taught him many things about female behavior, and he knew that look, had seen it plenty of times with Joan. More than likely, she was watching him through the peep-hole in her door.**

 **Sure enough, Ruby sat down with a pout after he closed the door.**

"Hmmm, looks like little Ruble enjoys the view." Yang teased.

"Blake?" Ruby said, face red from embarrassment. Blake quickly slapped Yang upside the head with an audible smack.

"Ow!"

"Thank you."

"Not a bad set of abs." Coco said.

"Pfft. Please, get on my level." Sun scoffed.

" **The candidates are ready." Ruby told Ironwood as he oversaw the control room. "We will commence the trials immediately."**

" **Good." He replied simply.**

" **But there is one thing. - "**

" **Ruby." Ironwood said with a hint of warning. He turned to face her. "We have talked about this. We will not be talking about it again."**

"Ironwood is acting like a dad a little too well." Blake commented. "Does he have any children in real life?" she directed the question toward Winter.

"None that I know of." She replied, glad that the truth protected the General. With Taurus in the room, she had to be extra careful.

" **You promised me." She protested. "** _ **I should be the one piloting Crocea Mors with him.**_ **"**

" **Ruby." He tried to calm her while dismissing Nora. "Vengeance is like an open wound. You can not take that level of emotion into the drift."**

" **For my family! I need- "**

" _ **If we had more time."**_ **he promised her before walking off.**

"Adoptive father, calling it." Blake said.

"Wanna put money on that?" Yang offered.

"20 lien."

"Deal." They shook hands to seal the deal.

 **Jaune walked into the mess hall, all the tables seemed to be full and the line for food was long. He felt like he was back in high school, which was not a good thing, since none of his sisters were here to keep him company while he ate. Being the middle child, he always had two or three siblings around him in school, with Joan being a given.**

 **He also noticed that there seemed to be a system of cliques revolving around the different Jaeger crews. He saw Blake beckon Ilia over in a sultry voice, the Schnees all sat together in descending order of age, and the Ember Celica crew seemed to be having an animated conversation centered around Yang.**

" **Jaune!" he looked up and saw Taiyang descending a staircase with a pair of trays filled with food. "Come sit with us." He said amiably.**

" **Oh, that's ok, I'm good- " he tried to deflect politely.**

"YOU FOOL, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Jaune yelled at his counterpart. "TAKE THE OFFER! TAKE IT!" He looked around and saw everyone staring at him. "Sorry. Just flashing back to school."

"Let me guess, fish out of water?" Coco said.

"That puts it lightly. I was the _biggest_ nerd back in the day. Spent the majority of my lunch time either alone or with whatever sisters were in the same school as me. Joan was always an option, but she was more social than me and her friends were never really _my_ friends. They just put up with me for her sake. Uh, Ruby, you okay?"

Ruby was staring at him wide-eyed like he had just said the most profound thing in the world. "Finally, someone who knows my pain." She nearly cried.

"You too?!"

"Yes! Dear Gods above, yes!"

"Oh, come on Rubes, Signal was not that bad." Yang said.

"Maybe for you it wasn't, Little Ms. Blonde and Buxom. For me, it was hell outside of P.E. and combat class."

"You still had friends…"

"Yeah, three of them! Three genuine friends out of a school of a thousand kids! And one of those three only became a real friend after he tried and failed to get to you through me!"

"Wow… Ruby, I'm sorry, I didn't know…"

Ruby managed to calm herself enough to regain control of her senses. "It's okay Yang. It worked out in the end, didn't it?" she gestured to the Beacon students sitting around them. Yang smiled, recognizing how much her little cinnamon bun of a sister had grown.

" **Come on, there's plenty of room at our table." Tai said, thrusting a food try into his hands.**

"Where guys like him when we were in school?" Jaune said.

"Probably hitting on the Yang of the school." Ruby joked.

" **I haven't seen bread in a while…" Jaune said, salivating at the spread before him.**

" **It's Atlas." He said, as if that explained everything. "Beauty of an open port; no rationing. Got potatoes, peas, sweet beans, pretty decent meatloaf. Pass the potatoes?" Jaune looked and handed him the mashed food. He pointed over at Yang, who was giving Jaune an appraising look. "Jaune, this is my daughter, Yang. She's my co-pilot now."**

" **He's more** _ **my**_ **co-pilot, right Dad?" Yang said smugly. "So, you're the guy, huh? You're the guy who's gonna run defense for me in that old rust bucket of yours?"**

"Yeah, I do not care for this version of you, Yang." Jaune said. No-one insults his giant fighting robot and gets away with it.

"You are not alone." Yang growled.

 **Jaune's eye twitched at the insult, but he let it slide. Best to not make an enemy out of an ally. "That's the plan." He said evenly.**

" **Cool." She said, feeding Zwei a piece of meatloaf. "So, when was the last time you jockeyed, John?"**

 _ **Man, this kid is pushing it.**_ **"'Bout five years ago." He said, giving her his full attention.**

" **What have you been doing for five years?" she grinned "Something important, I imagine."**

 _ **Ok, yeah, I do not care for you.**_ **"I was in construction."**

 **Yang chuckled. "That's great. I mean, that's** _ **really**_ **useful. You know, we get into a fight, you can build us a way out, eh, John?"**

" **It's** _ **Jaune**_ **." He corrected her. The least she could do to not be a fucking prick was say his damn name right.**

"Did you guys really think my name was John when we first met?" Jaune asked. He looked around and saw people not meeting his eyes, even Pyrrha.

"I knew it wasn't!" Ruby said, trying to cheer him up.

"Thanks Ruby."

"In our defense, the names are incredibly similar." Blake said.

"Why do you think I called you Arc so much?" Weiss chipped in.

" **Whatever." Yang said, getting serious, or as close to it as she could get while still being an asshole. "Look, you're Ironwood's bright idea. My old man, he seems to like you, but if you ask me, it was guys like you who brought down the Jaeger Program. To me, you're dead weight." She stood up and put on a military hat. "You slow me down, I'll drop you like a sack of Kaiju shit. I'll see you around,** _ **Jaune.**_ **Come on, Zwei." The corgi obediently jumped down off the bench and hurried off after his owner.**

" **You can blame me for that." Tai said with a little guilt. "Her mother left soon after she was born, so I raised her myself, but I never knew whether to give her a pat on the head or a kick in the ass."**

 **Jaune turned to Taiyang. "All due respect, sir, I'm pretty sure which one she needs."**

"Gotta agree with the kid." Qrow said. "This you done fucked up with her, Tai."

"Sadly, you're not wrong." Tai said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Wait, so if the Raven thing still holds true, what about me?" Summer asked.

Tai considered this and looked to his old partner, who, surprisingly, was slightly red in the face. Apparently they had both come to the same conclusion.

* * *

 **Man, that little rant about high school was incredibly fun to write, not to mention a little bit therapeutic. All I can really say is that I'm lucky to have found a place where I belonged back then. I doubt I would have made it otherwise.**

 **So, a few of you guys have expressed a desire to see some things other than movies, mostly anime. I would love to do those kind of things, so i pose to you a question: would you like to see another reaction fic, featuring teams RWBY and JNPR exclusively, and they react to different anime series, internet series (NOT RvB, there is already an amazing one of those on this site by RedSpartan) and other such things or would you prefer I devote my time to this exclusively? I should also mention that the character replacment twist will not be added with this one. I will be creating a poll that will be up for the next week and will announce the results then.**

 **See you next week!**

 **Next Update: 3/26/19**


	19. Chapter 19- Pacific Rim, Part 4

**Friends, I greet you today with dark tidings. I will not state them here, as I don't want to ruin the chapter for you, so I shall wait until my closing notes. Please, enjoy.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 19

 **Jaune stood in the middle of a room with a padded floor and stands off to the side. The stands, along with one of the hallways, were filled with on-lookers as the Jaeger trials went underway.**

 **His first opponent was a girl from Mistral with dark brown skin and platinum blonde hair. They fought with quarter staves, Jaune fighting silently, while his opponent was rather the opposite. He swept her staff down and hooked his in her arm. He then used it to throw her over his shoulder before thrusting the tip at her throat. The room filled with impressed applause.**

 **Across the room, Ruby stood next to Ironwood with a tablet in hand.**

" **4 points to Zero." She said.**

"What are they doing?" Kali asked.

"Some kind of trials, I assume. Mr. Arc doesn't have a co-pilot for his Jaeger, after all." Winter said.

"But why do they have to fight?"

"It's the only way warriors know how to express themselves." Adam put forth.

"You really think you should be talking right now, Taurus?" Yang said, glaring daggers at the man.

"Am I wrong?" he said, matching her gaze. "You're clearly a warrior, as are all your little friends. Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me you haven't been able to better understand any one of them on multiple levels after a good spar with them?" Yang frowned and looked away. "Like I thought."

 **His next opponent was a monkey faunus with the same hair color as the last one, but with a lighter skin tone. He spun his staff around in an attempt to impress/intimidate Jaune before jumping right into a flurry of blows, each of which Jaune blocked before hitting him in the side and slamming him face-first into the mat, pinning his left shoulder.**

"Okay, wow, I _felt_ that." Sun said, rubbing his side.

" **4 points to 1"**

 **Next up was a bull Faunus with red hair, blue eyes and fair skin. He swung his quarterstaff over his head into a sword ready. Jaune did the same, spinning into a kendo ready. His foe made the first move, going high right, then aiming for his legs. Jaune blocked all of them easily before blocking a flowing strike to his left followed by an over-head strike. He hooked his staff behind his opponent's knee and spun him over backwards. He landed face-first and disarmed, securing another win for Jaune.**

Blake didn't want to admit it, but the scene reminded her of the old days of the White Fang under father. She was a child and Adam was a teenager teaching her how to defend herself, with her father's permission of course. He hadn't yet received his scar yet, and was filled with optimism and ideals. That was the Adam she had loved as a brother, not the radical he became.

" **4 point to 2." Ruby said.**

" **Okay, what? You don't like them? I thought you picked them personally." Jaune said, panting.**

 **"Excuse me?"**

" **Every time a match ends, you make this little gesture, like you're critical of their performance."**

" **It's not** _ **their**_ **performance, it's** _ **yours. Your**_ **gambit. You could have taken all of them two moves earlier."**

'She's missing the point.' Adam thought to himself. 'These matches aren't about winning. They're about finding someone he can work with.'

" **You think so?" Jaune asked, intrigued.**

" **I know so." Ruby said confidently.**

" **Can we change this up?" Jaune said to Ironwood, pointing his staff at Ruby. "How about we give her a shot?"**

 **The audience seemed to like the idea and Ruby looked at him hopefully. "No. we stick to the cadet list we have, Ranger. Only candidates with Drift Compatibility-"**

" **Which I have, General." Ruby protested.**

" **Ruby, this is not just about a neural connection, it is also about a physical compatibility." He told her quietly.**

"Well, if that's not a Dad move, I don't know what is." Yang said with a grin.

"Gotta agree." Jaune nodded. "My dad was the same kind of protective with my sisters."

"Well, we only do it because we care." Taiyang grumbled.

" **What's the matter, General? Afraid your best and brightest can hang in the ring with me?" Jaune taunted. It had the desired effect. Ironwood took the tablet from her and gave her the green light.**

 **Ruby placed her boots to the side of the arena and took a staff offered by one of the candidates.**

" **Four strikes marks a win." Ironwood reminded them.**

" **Remember, it's about compatibility." Jaune reminded her as they passed by one another. "It's a dialogue, not a fight. But I won't dial down my moves."**

" **Okay." Ruby agreed, "Then neither will I."**

"At least this Ruby knows how to trash talk properly." Yang teased.

 **Both performed a few flourishes while taking their readies, Ruby with her staff behind her, Jaune in a classic broadsword ready. Jaune took a few steps forward and struck first, stopping just short of her head.**

" **1-0." he said.**

 **Ruby moved before he was ready, knocking his staff aside and making the same strike.**

"Wow. Maybe she's a little too into this." Weiss grimaced. Ruby just smiled at her counterpart.

" **1-1." she said. She sheathed her staff in her hand, but Jaune lightly hit her exposed left side.**

" **2-1. Concentrate." He moved into a staff ready and waited. When she didn't retaliate, he seized the initiative but soon found himself defending a series of quick blows before finding himself in the same losing position as before with Ruby's staff inches from his face.**

" **2-2. Better watch it." she warned. They took their readys and Jaune struck first again. After a short exchange, Ruby forced him to his knees and scored another victory, putting the tip of her staff along his neck. The audience applauded.**

" **3-2." She said, stepping back into a ready.**

" _ **Ms. Rose."**_ **General Ironwood said.** _ **"More control."**_

 **The two fought the next round over several minutes, changing between attacking and defending almost like it was a dance routine. Each attack was blocked before flowing into an attack of their own, which the other would dodge before returning to the attack. It was beautiful really. That is, until Jaune managed to hook his staff into Ruby's arm and shoulder throw her over him. She landed hard and he pointed his staff at her.**

 **There were no words as Ruby batted his staff aside and spun up into another ready. Jaune was surprised but grinned when she dared him to attack. They traded blows once more until Ruby managed to hook Jaune's leg and force him backwards onto the mat. She pinned his leg under her arm, winning the match.**

Ruby stood up, put her arms behind her back and smiled a Neo kind of smile; cute, yet terrifying. "Hello everyone, my name is Ruby Rose. Do. Not. Fuck with me." she said sweetly.

"Understood!" her friends said together before Ruby took her seat again, humming the movie's theme music to herself.

" **Enough." Ironwood said. Ruby released Jaune, stood and bowed before the general. "I've seen all I need to see."**

" **Me too." Jaune said, getting to his feet. He placed his hand on Ruby's shoulder. "She's my co-pilot." Ruby looked at him with shock. He flashed her a grin.**

" **That's not going to work." Jaune and Ruby looked back to Ironwood.**

" **Why not?" Jaune protested.**

" **Because I said so, Mr. Arc. I've made my decision. Report to the Shatterdome in two hours, and find out who your co-pilot will be." He turned and left, leaving a stunned Jaune and Ruby standing in the middle of the arena. Ruby left to shower and change. Jaune stood in the arena, following her as she left, and saw Yang standing in the hallway with a smug look on her face.**

"Mm. Still hate this me." Yang said to herself. Blake heard her and put a hand on her shoulder.

 **A few minutes later, Jaune caught up to Ruby, who he found tying her shoe in the middle of the hallway where their rooms were.**

" **Ruby!" he said, getting her attention. She looked back, surprised to see him and quite nervous. She backed up into the wall, like he was some kind of bully. "What was that about?" he asked her, genuinely curious and concerned, "I mean, I'm not crazy. You felt that, right? We are Drift-compatible."**

" **Thank you for standing up for me." Ruby said politely as she tried to squeeze past him. "But there is nothing to talk about." She went for the door and tried to open it.**

" **That's my room." Jaune pointed out when the door refused to open.**

"Oh, this brings back memories." Yang said with a chuckle.

"Yang, don;t you dare- " Ruby said before Weiss shut her up by shoving a cookie in her mouth.

"What kind of memories?" the ex-heiress asked.

"Specifically, there was this one time back in Signal where one of the upperclassmen Ruby had a crush on said she looked cute in her picture day outfit. She was freaking scatter-brained all day. Confused my locker for hers, forgot where her classes were, even accidentally walked into the boy's room at one point."

"No!" Pyrrha said, Nora cackling in the background.

"Oh yeah. Thankfully, I caught her before she made it too far in."

"I'm gonna kill you, Yang!" Ruby leapt at her sister, but Blake chopped her in the back of her neck, knocking her out. Weiss pushing the girl back into her seat and placed another cookie in her hand.

 **Cheeks burning, Ruby walked across the hall and opened the door to her own room. "Come on, I thought you wanted to be a pilot! Ruby, this is worth fighting for." She stopped in the doorway and turned to face him. "We don't have to just obey him."**

" **It's not obedience, Mr. Arc. It's respect." With that, she closed the door behind her and locked it.**

 **General Ironwood's elevator descended on his way to his next appointment. A drop of blood hit the tip of his mirror-shined dress shoes. He felt woozy and just a little bit nauseous. He could feel liquid on his upper lip. He reached up and see what it was. Blood. His nose was bleeding again. He pulled a small pill case out of pocket and took one. He didn't have much time left, he knew this. So why was he pussy-footing around the Crocea Mors piloting issue?**

" **In the wake of this Attika Incident," Lisa Lavendar reported, "Which showed the ineffective nature of the Wall of Life Program, many are questioning the motives behind the Council's joint decision and wondering why the Jaeger Program has been discontinued. Riots have erupted along the coastlines of several cities along the Great Ocean."**

 **Jaune was watching the report on the vid-screen in his room as he changed in preparation to get back in the saddle. He walked over to the pictures he had taped to the wall and his eyes fell upon another picture of him and Joan. This one had been taken when they were kids. Jaune was braiding her hair while she quizzed him for a test he had the next day at school.**

"Okay, I can confirm that _that_ actually happened." Jaune said, pre-empting the question he knew was coming.

"You know how to style hair? Yang said.

Jaune looked to Pyrrha. "May I demonstrate?"

"Of course." she said, getting up from her seat and sitting down in front of Jaune with her back to him so that Jaune could proceed.

" **We have relocated millions of civilians and supplies 300 miles inland to the safe zones." Ozpin reported at a press conference.**

" **Safe zones for the rich and powerful! What about the rest of us?" one of the reporters yelled, causing murmurs of assent from her colleagues.**

" **The Councils are united in the belief that the Wall of Life is still our best option at this time. and that is all they have to say on the matter." Ozpin responded coolly.**

"Ms. Xiao Long, I am beginning to understand your feelings." Ozcar said, hands tightening around the top of his cane. "I also dislike this version of me."

 **Oobleck was taking apart a machine and using the removed parts to build something else. Once he had finished, he grabbed a small recording device and turned it on.**

" **Human-Kaiju Drift Experiment, take one." He said to the device before putting it in his chest pocket. "The, uh- the brain segment is the frontal lobe." He narrated as he grabbed a bunch of wires and plugged them into the tank that held the Kaiju brain fragment. "Chances are the segment's far too damaged to Drift with. Unscientific aside,** ** **Arthur, if you're listening to this, well I'm either alive and I've proven that what I've just done works, in which case, ha, I won.** " he put on a strange helmet and activated it before going to type on a computer. "Or I'm dead, and I'd like you to know that it's all your fault. It really is, you know, you drove me to this. In which case, ha, I also won… sort of." He paused as he grabbed a large red button and let out a long calming sigh.**

" **I'm going in in three… two… one…" he pressed the button. He gasped as he felt the feeling of the Drift wash over him. His memories flowed in front of him; fishing with his father as a kid, his days in college, studying Kaiju at a government lab. Then the Kaiju's memories came. He saw what looked to be their home world. He saw the leaders of their race stitching him together. He saw his arrival to Remnant, and the fight that had killed him.**

 **The scene returned to the lab, where Oobleck was on the ground, unconscious and convulsing. Watts came in and discovered him.**

" **Bartholomew!" he said, running over to him. "Bartholomew! What have done?" he hit the emergency kill switch and the machine shut off.**

"I... don't know what to make of this..." Jaune said, pausing in his work with Pyrrha's hair.

"Nor I." Ozcar admitted.

 **Jaune exited his room, and started to head down the hall to the Shatterdome. Half way down, he turned around and walked back to Ruby's door. He made to knock on it, but stopped when he heard that the test was starting sooner than he planned. He thought he had maybe another half an hour, but he got a move on when he heard differently. Ruby had been watching from her room, and pouted when he walked away.**

 **Suddenly, a knock came from her door, and a smile came across her lips. She stood, and calmly opened the door with a pleasant smile. This smile quickly disappeared when she saw who was on the other side.**

 **Ironwood bowed, and Ruby returned it. "May I come in, Ruby?" he asked. Ruby moved aside, inviting him in. he looked at her quarters, delaying to find the right words. He turned and held a small toy scythe wrapped in white cloth in his hands.**

" **A long time ago, I made you a promise." He said, handing her the gift. She took it reverently, surprised that he had kept them all these years. "** _ **Get ready."**_

"The hardest part is letting go." Tai said. Summer smiled and laid her head on his shoulder.

"If our James is anything like this one, I believe he would make an excellent father." Glynda commented.

Winter smiled knowingly, agreeing with Glynda. She knew he had it in him. When she had given up her claim to the SDC in favor of military service, Ironwood had taken her under his wing and given her a home when her father had cast her out. He mentored her and eventually became an even truer father figure to her than Jacques could ever hope to be.

* * *

 **Alright, did we all enjoy the chapter? Yes? Good. I had a lot of fun writing the longer dialogue bits, especially the bit where Jaune says he knows how to braid hair. It seems to be a common trait among girls, but for guys, it's surprising.**

 **Now, for the bad news. For those who are worried, no, I'm not stopping the fic. Not any time soon at least.**

 **One of my readers recently brought to my attention a rather infuriating situation. It seems that some asshole on Wattpad by the name of Hunter Waters has been out right PLAGIARIZING this story. Albeit, he made a few changes, such as removing the notes and editing the beginning just a bit, but the content was literally the same, nearly word for word. 13 chapters of Jurassic Park with the same cast, an intermission chapter which introduces four more characters, a trailers chapter(never happening again, btw) and three chapters of Pacific Rim with the same cast.**

 **This is despicable. I am furious in a way I have not felt in a long time. And I do not like it when my normal calm is so compromised. Rest assured that all necessary steps have been taken to have the story removed from the site, and hopefully the plagiarist as well. I'm sorry for my outburst, but I felt it necessary to express how this makes me feel. I put 100% effort into this story, using every bit of spare time I have to work on it. And for some... hack to just copy-paste it, edit a little and call it his own work... No, no, we remain calm.**

 **Anyway, all I can ask of you all is to please stay away from his work. Don't forget to Follow, Favorite, and Review, and i'll see you all next week!**

 **Next Update: 4/2/19**


	20. Chapter 20- Pacific Rim, Part 5

**Hey guys! Old Wolf Logan here, back with a shorter than usual chapter. Sorry, but it's become increasingly hard for me to write these. My energy runs out faster than usual, my work has been giving me shorter shifts that don't allow for a lunch break so I can write, and I just don't have the will to write these at home. i think once I finish with Pacific Rim, I'll take a week or two off from updates. Little bit of RnR, ya know? Anyway, let's get to what you came here for!**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 20

"And we are... done!" Jaune said, finishing up Pyrrha's hair. He had done a braid up the back of her head that turned into a side ponytail on her left side.

"Holy crap, Vomit Boy!" Yang exclaimed.

"Jaune, that's so cool!" Nora gushed.

"Where did you learn to do that?" Velvet asked.

"Once again, seven sisters." he said. "If you want to survive as the only son in that kind of environment, you have to learn how to please your opponents. Thankfully, being good at hair styles was a common weakness for all my sisters."

About this time, Ruby regained consciousness. "Huh, wha-? What's going on?"

Weiss pointed to the cookie in her hand. "Cookie coma." she lied.

"Again?" she said, exasperated, "Man, I really do need help, don't I?"

 **The control room was busy getting ready to test drive a Jaeger that had been left to collect dust for five years. Nora was in the middle of it all, delegating orders and triple checking everything she could think of. But above all else, she wanted pancakes. Sweet, sweet pancakes, buttered, stacked twenty high and doused in syrup. But not powdered sugar. That was just blasphemy. She knew it and Ren knew it, Gods bless his soul.**

 **Jaune was already suited up in new black armor and waiting in the cockpit of Crocea Mors.**

" **Setting harness for test mode. Awaiting second pilot." He said as he flipped the necessary switches. He looked around and noticed subtle differences. Seems they had upgraded the cockpit during restoration. He snapped back to reality when the arrival of his co-pilot was announced. "I'm gonna take this side, if you don't mind. My left arm's kinda shot." He said grumpily.**

"Gee, I wonder why?" Blake said dryly.

"I don't blame him." Yang said, her left hand unconsciously rubbing her prosthetic forearm.

" **Sure." He looked to make sure he wasn't hallucinating when he heard that voice. He smiled when he saw Ruby standing next to him in matching armor. "What? Nothing to say?" she teased.**

 **He shrugged. "No point. Two minutes, you'll be inside my head." He smiled at her. "You look good."**

" **Pilots on board and ready to connect." Penny's voice reported as Nora took her chair, Ironwood and Taiyang watching anxiously.**

" **Prepare for neural handshake." Ironwood ordered.**

" **Initiating neural handshake." Nora replied as she activated the sequence.**

 **The cockpit locked into place on the body, and the restraints pulled away. Inside the cockpit, Jaune and Ruby activated the handshake on their end.**

" **Alright, we're not in the simulator anymore, Ruby." Jaune said, "Remember, don't chase the rabbit. Random access brain impulse triggers. Memories. Don't latch on, just let 'em flow. Tune them out. Stay in the Drift. The Drift is silence." She nodded and closed her eyes. Jaune did the same as the familiar feeling of the Drift washed over him. He saw his memories flow before him, as he had with Joan, but he also saw Ruby's; a small girl playing with her parents, a man with messy black hair and a scraggly beard and a woman with silver eyes and a white cape. The same girl in grade school, getting a perfect score on her math test, her parents joyful and proud. The little girl crying, alone in ruins. Joan's final moments.**

 **They snapped to reality with a jolt. In unison, they lifted their right hands, then their left before assuming a fighting stance. On the outside, Crocea Mors did the same.**

"Seems that both of them have rather tragic pasts." Weiss observed.

"Was that Mom and Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked, confused.

"Looks like it." Yang answered.

"What d'ya think about that, old buddy?" Tai said, ribbing his old partner. When he got no response, he turned and saw Qrow sitting there with his mouth open. "Qrow? You alright man?" Tai waved his hand in front of Qrow's face, trying to bring him back.

"I think the movie broke him." Mercury said, tossing popcorn into his mouth.

" **Okay, Crocea Mors. Lining up nicely." Nora said to herself, checking the vital readings. "Better get ready." She told Ironwood and Taiyang.**

" **General! General!" Watts yelled as he half-ran into the control room.**

 **Ironwood looked back. "Not now, Dr. Watts. I'm sure you can appreciate how important this moment is to me." He turned back to the Jaeger.**

" **Bartholomew created a neural bridge from garbage and drifted with a Kaiju!" Surprised, then concerned, Ironwood followed him to the lab. Oobleck was sat in a chair, shaking from the experience. He slowly sipped a glass of water and starred into space. "I found him prone, on the floor," Watts told Ironwood as they approached, "And he's sort of dazed." Ironwood gestured for him to stay put while he approached the shaken man.**

" **Bart?" he asked.**

 **Oobleck looked up and grinned at him. "I told you it would work."**

" **Yes, you did." Ironwood said with small smile. He pulled up a chair and sat down. "Well, what did you see?"**

" **Y** **ou know, it was only a fragment of a brain, so all I was really able to get was, like, a series of images or, or impressions, like when you blink your eyes over and over and over again? All you see are, like, frames- "**

" **Bart, look at me." Ironwood placed his hand on the man's shoulder to calm him down, "Now, I want you to take your time, and be** _ **very**_ **specific."**

"Me too." Jaune said, leaning forward.

 **Oobleck took a moment before he continued. "Okay. Well, I don't feel like they're just attacking us out of some animalistic urge, you know, just hunting and gathering. I think they're attacking us under orders."**

" **That's impossible." Watts scoffed.**

" **Is it impossible?" Oobleck said, quickly getting very angry. Soon, the men descended into childish squabbling, each talking over the other.**

" **YOU! SHUT UP!" Ironwood stood and pointed at Watts. He turned back to Oobleck and sat back down. "You, keep talking."**

"Seriously, STFU." Jaune said.

"I have never seen the General that mad before." Winter said, surprised.

"I have. And I never want to see it again." Glynda said with a shudder.

 **Oobleck quickly recovered from the shock of seeing the normally unflappable general snap in anger and continued. "These beings, these masters, they're colonists. They overtake worlds, they just consume them and move on to the next. And they been here before as a sort of trial run. It was the dinosaurs! But the atmosphere wasn't conducive, right? So they waited it out, and waited it out. And now, with ozone depletion, carbon monoxide, polluted waters- we've practically terraformed it for them.**

" **Cause now they're coming back. And it's perfect. See, the first wave, those were just the hounds. Categories 1-4, that was nothing. Their sole purpose was to aim for the populated areas and take out the vermin- us! The second wave, that is the exterminators, and they** _ **will**_ **finish the job. And then, the new tenants will take possession."**

"Holy fuck..." Jaune said, putting his head in his hands. This was too much for him to take in all at once. The implications were too great. His mind was swimming with questions he couldn't find answers for. He felt someone take his hands in theirs, and saw Pyrrha kneeling in front of him.

"Hey, It's just a movie." She told him, putting her forehead on his. He immediately calmed down at her touch and was smiling by the time she sat down beside him.

 **Ironwood stood as he took all this in. This was valuable information. It explained somewhat how the Kaiju operated, and why they- humanity- had seen such success in the early years of the war and why things were getting so hard over the last few years. It also gave him an idea what to expect next. Unfortunately, it was too little too late at this point. He needed more information.**

" **Bart, I need you to do it again." He told Oobleck. "We need more intel."**

" **W-well, I can't do it again." He told the General. "I mean, not unless you've got a fresh Kaiju brain laying around." The General just looked at him with the barest hint of a grin. "Do you?"**

"Ah, the military keeping secrets. A classic." Blake joked.

 **Crocea Mors brought her fists together, finishing the start-up sequence. Below, the other Jaeger crews applauded the apparent success. In the control room, Tai had taken command in Ironwood's absence, with Yang observing nearby, her arms crossed over her chest.**

" **Pretty impressive." Tai said.**

" **Yeah, he remembers how to turn it on. Big deal." Yang said sarcastically.**

"Gods dammit- "

"You hate this you." Team RWB_ said as one.

"We get it, Yang. Movie you is currently a massive tool." Ruby said.

" **Hey, show some respect." Tai said angrily. "When his sister died, he brought the Jaeger back to shore on his own. I've known** _ **one**_ **other pilot who's been able to do that."**

 **Back in the lab, Ironwood brought out a large hard drive and plugged it into a computer. "Now, there are certain individuals whose business is the preservation and exploitation of Kaiju remains." Ironwood said as Watts brought up the files.**

" **Yeah, uh, black market dealers, right?" Oobleck said, trying to tidy himself up a bit.**

" **Right." A series of images flashed across the holographic computer screen. "They're in and out in a matter of hours. They neutralize the acidic factor of the blood and harvest what they need." The images stopped on a man with a cane and a cigar standing in front of a Kaiju skeleton with his back to the camera. "Now, this guy, is Roman Torchwick. He runs the Kaiju black market here in Solitas, as well as in Vale. When our funding ran out, we turned to him for help, and in return, I gave him exclusive rights to all Kaiju remains in the region."**

" _ **You**_ **did that?" Watts asked.**

"General Ironwood would never stoop to such lows, even in the most dire of circumstances." Winter said angrily.

"Oh you would be surprised, Ice Queen Sr." Torchwick said with a grin.

"And what is that supposed to mean, criminal?"

"It means that ol' Iron-stick-in-the-mud is as fallible as anyone else here, even you. We mortals are outrageously flawed creatures. We try to hide it with glory and virtue, but in a do or die situation, people will do just about anything to get heir way, even if it means dirtying their hands with the criminal element."

"And when did you become a student of the human condition, Roman?" Cinder said, intrigued.

"Round about the time my Huntsman career started going south."

" **Last days of war, gentlemen." Ironwood pulled a blank piece of notecard paper out of his inside jacket pocket and handed it to Oobleck. "Here, take that. Go the intersection of Stark and Tull. Show them that card. Look for that symbol. And a word to the wise: do** _ **not**_ **trust him."**

 **Back in the Jaeger, Jaune and Ruby took a fighting ready.**

" _ **Calibration complete."**_ **Penny's voice said.**

" **The hull! It went through the hull!" Jaune heard Joan's voice say. He looked over to Ruby and saw himself on the worst day of his life. Suddenly, the memory took over and he felt all the emotions Joan had felt.**

"Well that ain't good." Coco commented when Yang didn't.

"This isn't going to end well..." Blake said to herself.

" _ **Pilot out of alignment."**_ **Penny reported.**

" **Both out of alignment." Nora said, triple checking her read outs.**

" **Both of them?" Tai asked in shock.**

" **Both of them!" Nora stood and began speaking into a microphone. "Crocea Mors! You're out of alignment! I repeat, you are both out of alignment!"**

" **I got it, "Jaune said, "Just let me control it."**

" **You're stabilizing, but Ruby is way out. She's chasing the rabbit!"**

" **Ruby." Jaune turned to her and tried to talk her back to him, but it was too late. She was gone, lost in a memory. If only it was a good one.**

 **It was snowing as she walked down the main street of a small village. She had her small toy scythe in her hands.**

" **Mama!" a little girl cried. Ruby looked up and saw a small girl with black hair and a red hood and cape walking alone through the desolation that had been her hometown. A siren could be heard in the distance. The streets were abandoned, cars and other vehicles lay where their owners had chosen to flee.**

 **A squad of combat Bullheads flew overhead. Young Ruby looked behind her and saw they were firing at a Kaiju that looked like a hermit crab, though the gun fire had little effect. The Kaiju roared and began to chase her, running through buildings and trampling cars in its pursuit. Ruby screamed and ran for a nearby alleyway. When she reached the alley, she ran and hid behind some dumpsters, too scared to pay the smell any mind.**

 **Jaune was there waiting for her. He tried to remind her that it was nothing but a bad memory, but she couldn't see or hear him. A loud thudding shut them both up as they could tell the beast was getting closer. Soon the monster's full form was seen at the end of the alley. It looked down and roared when it saw her. Ruby screamed, left her hiding place and put her hand out in front of her.**

 **In the real world, she did the same. And so did the Jaeger.**

" **Weapons system engaged." Penny said. "Plasma cannon powering up." The Jaeger's arm shifted into plasma cannon form. The other teams, recognizing what was happening, quickly evacuated everyone from the hangar bay.**

" **Weapon system engaged! Go to fail safe!" Nora ordered.**

" **Fail safe's not responding." A technician reported. "There's a problem with the neural blocker. Her connection's way too strong."**

" **Fully charged." Penny said.**

 **Jaune tried to snap her out of it, but she was locked into the nightmare. Nora ordered the control room evacuated before she dived behind the control console. The Kaiju in Ruby's nightmare clawed at her, coming within a few meters of her. Nora began pulling cables out of the console.**

" **Pull the main power line!" Tai ordered. "Get the main power line!"**

 **In the dream, a squadron of Bullheads carried a Jaeger overhead. It let out a roar as it fell, drawing the Kaiju's attention. They fought briefly and loudly, scaring Ruby, who covered her ears and crouched away from the noise.**

 **Ironwood ran into the control room, yelling at the men and Nora to take the Jaeger offline.**

" **I just did!" Nora said, showing him the plug she had just pulled.**

 **The plasma cannon powered down audibly, the cannon transforming back into a hand and hanging limply. Jaune disengaged from his harness and walked around to disengage Ruby. She collapsed into his arms and he left her fall gently. Her took off her helmet and hugged her close.**

" **Neural connection invalid." Penny's voice said. "Would you like to try again?"**

"My god..." Glynda whispered, aghast.

"Ms. Rose, are you...?" Ozcar asked, but Yang waved him silent. Ruby was staring at the screen in shock, the cookie she had been working on fallen from her hand. Weiss pulled her into a hug, a rare occurrence, and a sure sign that something was wrong. But Ozpin was not who she need right now, neither was her father, her mother or her uncle. What she needed was her sisters, her team. They knew this, and so they each piled hugs upon her, the theater silent as the grave.

* * *

 **Well, that happened.**

 **Sorry if I put a damper on things, but this is a key moment in the movie, as well as a traumatizing one for Mako. Since Ruby is playing her, and is also watching herself go through this, it makes sense that she should be in shock.**

 **In happier news, the filthy plagiarist is no more! I have checked multiple times on Wattpad for his account and have come up empty each time, so I can only assume that his profile there has been removed. However, I understand that such people are persistent little bastards, so expect him to try this again under a new screen name. If it's not too much to ask, please be on the lookout for anymore copies of this fanfic. I don't want people to take credit for my hard work again. And once again, a huge thank you to the anonymous reader who tipped me off. Truly, you are an individual of character and honor.**

 **So, hopefully I can get Pacific Rim done this month because there are two movies that I want to have out by May for different, yet appropriate reasons.**

 **See you all next week! Don't forget to Follow, Favorite and Review!**

 **Next Update: 4/9/19**


	21. Chapter 21- Pacific Rim, Part 6

**On with the show!**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 21

 **Though Atlas was considered the "better part" of the Atlas capital, it still had its slums, just like Mantle. However, due the affluence of certain residents, the disparities in wealth were even greater than in Mantle, and this was made apparent to Oobleck as he made his way into the so-called "Bone Slums" of Atlas' red-light district. The air was full of honking horns, massive chatter, disgusting smells, and even more embarrassing sounds coming from nearby buildings.**

 **He shined a black light on the card Ironwood had given him and saw an image of a smiling Jack o' Lantern face. He looked around, but saw no obvious signs of what he was looking for, though he did see how the Bone Slums got their name; the rib cage of a long-dead Kaiju was towering over the shops and tenement buildings. He found a nearby sign with coloring that matched his card, and decided to take a look with his black-light. He found the same symbol on it, with a arrow pointing to the left underneath it.**

"Liking where this is going already." Torchwick whispered to himself. Neo apparently heard him and gave him a small fist bump, clearly reading his thoughts.

' **Might as well follow it.' he thought. He continued this process until it brought him to a balcony outside a shop a few miles away. Outside sat a pair of young women, twins in fact, one with long hair dressed in white and light blue, the other with short hair dressed in red and black. Oobleck checked out a pole near the door and found the symbol again. 'This must be it.' he thought before going inside.**

 **The walls were lined with various toys and knick-knacks from around Remnant. Behind the counter stood 'Junior' Hei Xiong.**

"So Roman owns a toy shop or something?" Ruby scoffed.

"It's called a front, Little Red." Roman said.

Seeing Ruby's innocent confusion, Blake explained, "It's a cover for his dealings. Black market anything isn't exactly legal, so he hides it behind something unassuming to avoid the cops. The White Fang does it all the time."

" **Hey." He said quietly, "You looking for some Kaiju bone powder?"**

" **S-some bone- some bone powder?" Oobleck asked, confused. "No, why would I want that?"**

" **Male potency." Junior said with a grin. "I take it myself."**

Yang gagged violently, but managed to keep it down. "Never say these words again." she said, her fist in front of her mouth, trying to regain control.

" **I see." Oobleck grinned back politely. "No, thank you. I'm looking for Roman Torchwick."**

 **Junior signaled the twins to lock the door before walking over to the wall opposite the counter. "Roman Torchwick, huh?" he said, pressing a hidden button on one of the shelves, "Good luck, kid." He motioned for the doctor to walk through as several more walls opened up, revealing a large busy room. All over it, people were working on Kaiju body parts.**

" **Oh my gods." Oobleck said in awe. "Oh my gods! This place is heaven!" he walked over to a nearby tank. "That's a lymph gland from a Category 2. And what are you working on here?" he asked a man who was taking a hand sander to what looked to be a large claw. "Is this a cuticle? In mint condition!?" he walked over to another man handling a large bug. "Is that a Kaiju skin parasite? I've never seen them alive before. They usually die as soon as the Kaiju fall! I thought you couldn't keep them alive!"**

"Oh, Gods, is this what I'm like in a weapons shop?" Ruby asked, cringing.

"YES!" Team _WBY said, not missing a beat.

" **You can if you soak them in ammonia." Oobleck turned and saw Roman Torchwick in his usual garb, Neo at his side. "What do you want?"**

" **I'm looking for Roman Torchwick?" he held up the card Ironwood gave him. "I was told he was here?"**

" **Who wants to know?"**

"Man, talk about cheesy." Nora commented.

"Is there ever an answer to that that isn't?" Roman fired back.

"... Touche, sir."

"How about an honest one?" Ruby said with a little sarcasm.

"Ah, but where's the fun in that?" Roman joked.

" **I really can't say." Oobleck said, trying to sound cool. Before he could react, Neo had walked up, drawn the hidden blade from her parasol, and shoved it in his nose. She slowly lifted, threatening to cut open the man's nostril. "AAH! AAH! JAMES IRONWOOD SENT ME!" Neo withdrew the knife, leaving no permanent damage. "GAH! Oh, that's great. So I take it you're him?"**

" **Sorry 'bout that kid, but you can't be too careful when your business is black market** _ **everything**_ **." Torchwick said as Neo wiped off the blade with a small rag. "Now tell me what you want, before I have Neo here gut you like a pig and feed you to the skin louse."**

"Hey, Wolf Guy, I think Neo deserves a little treat for that performance!" Roman shouted.

 _"Sir, I am inclined to agree with you."_ Logan said. Next thing Neo knew, an entire gallon tub of her favorite brand and flavor of ice cream appeared in her lap and a spoon in her hand. Drooling, she tore off the lid and inhaled the sweet aroma of frozen deliciousness.

"Let me guess, Neopolitan flavor?" Mercury joked.

"Nope, Double Mint Chip." Roman said.

"What?" Emerald asked, having never heard of it.

 _"Mint Chocolate Chip with York Peppermint Patties."_ Neo clapped excitedly and began to tear the treat apart.

 **The pilots of Crocea Mors stood in the hallway outside of Ironwoods' office/quarters, an argument clearly audible over the concrete and steel walls. Jaune was pacing back and forth across the hall, while Ruby stood at ease against the wall across from the door.**

" **She can't control her Drift and** _ **he**_ **went out of phase first!" Yang argued.**

" **We all know what happened." Ironwood said calmly.**

" **We can't afford any mistakes!" Yang fired back. "The Kaiju keep evolving, and they keep kicking our asses! He's a has-been, she's a rookie. I don't want them tainting** _ **my**_ **bomb run,** _ **sir.**_ **"**

" **You need to watch your tone, Ms. Xiao Long." Ironwood said as Yang opened the door and stormed out.**

" **Hey, stay there. Give me a moment." Taiyang ordered from the doorway before closing it.**

" **You two are a Gods-damned disgrace." Yang practically yelled to the pair. "You're gonna get us all killed, and here's the thing,** _ **Jaune**_ **," she said his name with enough venom to take down a Goliath. "I wanna come back from this mission, because I rather enjoy my life. So why don't you just do us all a favor and disappear? It's the only thing you're good at."**

"Hey, Logan, any chance I could punch this version of myself in face?" Yang said, her eyes red at how her sister was being treated.

 _"Keep watching, Ms. Xiao Long, I think you will like your dopplegangers' ultimate fate."_ Logan assured her. not getting her way, Yang sat back in a pout.

" **Stop, now!" Ruby said, taking a step forward before Jaune stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.**

" **Yeah, that's right." Yang said with a grin. "You just hold back your little girlfriend. One of you bitches needs a leash." Before she even knew what happened, Jaune punched Yang in the face, followed by a left hook. Yang landed a left of her own, but Jaune recovered and blocked her next blow and drove her back with a few of his own, finishing with a heavy right to the face while Yang was on her knees.**

 _"What if Mr. Arc's doppleganger does it for you?"_

Yang considered it briefly, her eyes changing back to their normal lilac. "Acceptable."

" **Apologize to her." Jaune said over the mutterings of the growing crowd.**

" **Screw you." Yang said as she stood up and swung at Jaune. He ducked the blow, and landed a kidney shot and a left hook. He pushed her into the wall and made to strike, but Yang ducked and drove him into the opposite wall. She soon found her arm locked under Jaune's and used to drive her into some piping. She groaned at the impact as a gout of steam whistled behind her.**

" **I** _ **said**_ **apologize to her." Jaune said. The pair squared off for a moment before Yang rushed him. Jaune blocked each attack and drove her to the ground in an arm bar submission hold.**

" **ENOUGH!" Tai yelled, breaking up the fight and causing the crowd to scatter. "On your feet, both of you!"**

" **Arc, Rose, in my office." Ironwood said with a sigh. Jaune backed up, staring Yang down. Yang took it as another challenge and went for him, but Tai held her back.**

" **No, this is over!" he said. "You're a Ranger for God's sake, why don't you start acting like one?"**

"Jaune, this you has officially earned my respect." Yang said.

"Thank you?"

" **I went out of phase first." Jaune argued, defending Ruby and his crew. "It was** _ **my**_ **mistake." They were in a pair of chairs in Ironwood's spartan office. The only noticeable feature was the window, which gave a beautiful view of Atlas.**

" **No." Ironwood argued solemnly, "It was my mistake. I should have never let you two in the same machine."**

" **So, what? You're grounding us?"**

" **Not you." Ironwood said, looking at Ruby. A look of realization crossed her face, followed by barely contained sorrow.**

" **Permission to be dismissed, sir?" she asked, barely managing to hold back the tears. Ironwood nodded and she quickly left. Jaune put his hands on his head in exasperation frustration.**

"And now I wanna kill Ironwood for making Ruby cry." Yang growled.

"Blake?" Ruby said with a sigh, doing Weiss' trademark exasperation face. Blake slapped Yang upside the head. "Thank you."

" **Sir, what are you doing? She is the strongest candidate, by far." He stood up and walked to the general. "What other options do we have? Huh? Tell me!"**

" **Do not let my calm demeanor fool you, RANGER!" Ironwood yelled, his anger boiling over, surprising Jaune. "NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR YOUR INSUBORDINATION. Ruby is too inexperienced to reign in her memories during combat." He moved to leave his chambers.**

"Said every father ever, but not not in those exact words." Jaune said.

"Seven sisters?" Nora guessed.

"Seven sisters." he confirmed.

" **That's not why you grounded her." Jaune said, stopping Ironwood in his tracks. The two men faced each other. "I was in her memories. I saw everything."**

" **I don't care what you think you saw."**

 **Jaune flashed back to the end of the attack. When the Kaiju's roars had died down, Ruby exited the alley she hid in. The street was in ruins, and her attacker lay smote at one end of the road. Mechanical thudding drew her attention to the other end of the street, where she saw her savior: a crude, but unmistakable form of a Jaeger. The hatch on the head opened up, and out stepped a figure in all-grey armor. He took off his helmet to reveal a much younger-looking James Ironwood.**

"Anything you'd like to say Ms. Xiao Long?" Winter asked smugly.

"He still made Ruby cry." Yang mumbled.

" **I know what she means to you." Jaune told him. "I saw it. I- "Ironwood had heard enough and was walking away. "Hey! Hey!" he yelled after him.**

" **This conversation is over, Mr. Arc."**

" **General! General, can we just talk about this for one second?" Jaune yelled, grabbing him by the arm and spinning him around. Ironwood looked amazed he had dared to do that. "You were friends with her parents. When they died, you adopted her. You** _ **raised**_ **her** _ **.**_ **You are not protecting her now, you are holding her back."**

" **One, don't you ever touch me again." As he pushed the call button on the elevator. "Two, don't you ever touch me again. Now, you don't know who the hell I am or where I come from and I am not about to tell you my life's story. All I need to be to you and everyone on this dome is a fixed point. The Last. Man. Standing. I want neither your sympathy nor your admiration. All I need is your compliance and your fighting skills. And if I can't have that, you can go back to the wall I found you crawling on. Do I make myself clear?" When Jaune didn't respond, he simply held a finger to his ear and leaned in.**

" **Yes, sir." Jaune said reluctantly.**

" **Good."**

"There's the James we know." Glynda sighed.

"It's not an _in_ accurate portrayal." Ozcar said, trying to be positive about it.

 **It was lunch time again, and there were no friendly faces in the mess hall for Jaune. When he descended the stairs from the lines, the room went so quiet you could hear a pin drop, and so tense that you'd need a chainsaw to cut it. all eyes were on him, and he knew why.**

' **I take it back.' He thought, '** _ **Now**_ **it's like school.' He caught Ruby's eye across the room and they walked off in separate directions, meeting up outside the mess hall.**

" **I'm sorry." Jaune said when they sat down in a more private location, the Jaeger repair yard. "I should have warned you. First Drifts are rough. But you weren't just tapping into my memories, you were tapping into my sister's too. When Joan was taken we were still connected. I felt her fear, her pain, her helplessness, and then… nothing. She was gone."**

Jaune tried to fight the angry tears, as Pyrrha took his hand. 'I know what to do, but it can wait. At least until after the movie.' he thought.

" **I felt it." Ruby said, comfortingly. "I know."**

 **Jaune sighed, and looked down. "You know, you live in someone else's head for so long, the worst thing to deal with is the silence. To let someone else in, to really connect, you have to trust them." He looked back up at Ruby and smiled softly. "And today, the Drift was strong."**

 **A loud thumping drew Ruby's attention. "Her heart." She said. Jaune looked and saw a massive crane taking part of the chestplate off of Crocea Mors, exposing her nuclear power core. "When was the last time you saw it?"**

" **Not in a looong time." he said, admiring the sight.**

 **In the control room, Nora was walking in with a pair of coffee mugs and a stack of pancakes eight layers thick. Just a light snack.**

" **Movement in the Breach." The AI voice of Penny reported. "Double event. Two signatures detected. Dilation indicator, Category 4."**

 **Nora's plate shattered when she dropped it.**

"Well, shit." Coco said, Velvet nodding in agreement.

"Hm, Arthur was right about something for once." Cinder admitted begrudgingly.

Hearing this, Salem thought to herself. 'This in-fighting is becoming a hindrance. Perhaps I should focus on something to make my council more... cooperative with each other. Some sort of psychic Grimm, perhaps..."

* * *

 **And done! That last bit there is something I started wondering when I was writing the reaction dialogue. If you really think about it, Salem's Evil Council of Evil is only held together by mutual fear of her. But fear as a method of control only lasts so long as they keep winning. In the show, they haven't exactly been on a hot streak. At best, they're .75-2 in their plans going their way. Just take a look at Emerald and Mercury at the end of Season 6. I don't think they're gonna stick around much longer, and Cinder and Neo are off doing their own thing.**

 **On an unrelated note, the final chapter of Pacific Rim is currently about 75-80% complete, so we _will_ be finishing it this month. The next movie will come out in May, and I'm torn between which to do next. On one hand, Star Wars Day is next month, so it would be a nice appropriate little treat. On the other hand, next month celebrates the 20th anniversary of The Mummy. Since, I can't decide, I'll leave it to you guys, my 500+ followers (HOLY FUCKING SHIT!), to decide, simply leave your votes in a review and the most votes will premier next month. However, please keep it fair and only vote once? I don't need a gagillion emails telling me what you guys want. My life is stressful enough as it is, thank you very much.**

 **Please remember to Follow, Favorite, and Review, and I will see you all next week.**

 **Next Upload: 4/16/19**


	22. Chapter 22- Pacific Rim, Part 7

**Alright, the votes are in, and I have my answer. What is it? You'll just have to find out next month.**

 **Now, let's get to the good stuff.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 22

 **Ruby and Jaune blended into the crowd that flowed into the control as Nora began her briefing.**

" **The Breach was exposed at 2300 hours." She said. "We have two signatures, both Category 4s, codenames Otachi and Leatherback. They'll reach the city within the hour."**

" **Evacuate the city, shut down all the bridges." Ironwood ordered. "I want every single civilian in a refuge right now. White Scion, Pack Alpha, you two will frontline the harbor. Stay on the Miracle Mile. Nothing gets in without a fight. Ember Celica, I want you to stay back and look after the coastline. We cannot afford to lose you, so you do not engage unless absolutely necessary."**

" **Yes, sir." Tai and Yang sounded off.**

" **You two." Ironwood said, turning to Jaune and Ruby. "You stay put." They nodded their assent. "Let's move!"**

"Oh, that's real sensible." Jaune said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Is there a problem, Mr. Arc?" Winter said.

"No problem, unless you include the general who is holding back his best weapons."

"Are you questioning the general's decision?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Yes, I am." Jaune said, turning to face her. "Think about it. At the start of the movie, Crocea Mors was taken out by a single Category 4 Kaiju, and that was with a veteran crew with multiple kills under their belt. Now, they're dealing with two of the same opponents, yet all he's doing is essentially evening the odds by holding Crocea Mors and Ember Celica in reserve while the other two engage."

"Jaune, you know what his reasons are, right?" Weiss asked, trying to back up her sister.

"I do, and they're bullcrap. When we fight the Grimm, do we hold back? No, we use everything we have to beat them, because we know that they won't hesitate to kill us first. Terminate with extreme prejudice, that's all that works against monsters, and the Kaiju are no different as far as I can tell."

 **Minutes later, Scion and Alpha were being air-lifted to their posts by Bullheads, while Celica was wading out into the surf.**

" **Loccent, Celica's got the ball and we're on the move." Yang radioed in.**

" **Loccent, nearing positions and awaiting your orders." Taiyang reported.**

" **Remain in the Miracle Mile. Engage at your discretion." Ironwood radioed, "Also, keep your eyes open. These Category 4s are the largest we've seen, both in size and weight."**

"Even more reason to-! Bah!" Jaune said, frustrated at Ironwood.

 **When Alpha and Scion had reached their positions, they disengaged their transport clamps, fell into the water, and began to patrol the area.**

 **In the city, several people were chanting as they entered a temple of some kind, whose entrance was the mouth of a Kaiju skull.**

" **Look at them." Roman said. he and Oobleck were on a balcony overlooking the temple behind his… business. "They believe that the Kaiju were sent from Heaven. That the Brothers are expressing their displeasure at our behavior. Freaking idiots…"**

"Interesting..." Ozcar mused.

 _"Hmph. They did that when they abandoned this world."_ Salem thought, remembering that day.

" **And what do you believe?" Oobleck asked him.**

" **Well… I believe Kaiju bone powder is 500 lien a pound. What do you want?"**

"Seriously?" Weiss said, "You could get twice as much premium SDC dust for that price!"

"What can we say Ice Queen? Sex sells." Roman shrugged.

" **I need to access a Kaiju brain. Completely intact."**

" **No, no, no. The skull plate is so thick that by the time you drill into it- "**

" **The brain is completely unsalvageable, I know. But I'm talking about the secondary brain. Now, we both know that the Kaiju are so large, they need two brains to function properly, like a dinosaur. I want to get my hands on one of those."**

" **Hm." Roman grunted as he tried to figure out the angle. He decided to go with the direct approach. "What do you want a secondary brain for anyway? I mean, every part of the Kaiju sells. Cartilage, spleen, liver, even the crap! One cubic meter of crap has enough phosphorous in it to fertilize a whole field! But the brain? Too much ammonia. So what's your game, kid?"**

" **Well, that's classified. So I couldn't tell you, even if I wanted to." Oobleck replied, not knowing he was playing right into Roman's hand. Roman had met kids like him before; eager, cocky, braggarts, prideful to a fault. "But it is pretty cool, so I might tell you." Roman hid his grin and crossed his arms in a fake pout. "I'm gonna tell you." Hook, line and sucker. "I figured out how to Drift with a Kaiju."**

 **Roman's grin disappeared. "Are you funnin' me, kid?"**

" **It's fascinating how their minds work! Every single Kaiju, his mind's connected. It's like the species has a hive mind!"**

 **Roman ripped off Oobleck's glasses and inspected his bloodshot eye. "Holy crap… you've gone and done it, haven't you?"**

" **I-I may have a little, yeah."**

 **Sirens began blaring in the distance. "You god damn moron." Roman said as he stormed inside.**

"Summing up everyone's thought in a single sentence. Nicely put, Roman." Cinder said.

Roman looked at her like she was a crazy person. "Okay, stop that."

"What?"

"This whole complimenting thing. You don't do that. Ever."

"Well, death has a way of changing people, I suppose."

"You too? Welcome to the club."

 **In the bay, Pack Alpha and White Scion waded further out into the surf, when Scion picked something up on radar.**

" **Movement on the right! 3 o'clock!" Whitley reported. The inside of Scion's cockpit was much the same as any other Jaeger, with the exception of a third harness in front of the usual two. Winter took the lead spot, with Weiss and Whitley flanking her on the left and right respectively. Scion looked around the waters to it's right, searching for its prey, when it ambushed them, jumping out of the water and bashing them with its tail. They fell back several feet and shook off the attack.**

" **Activate Thundercloud formation!" Winter ordered as they rose.**

 **When they got to their feet, the Jaeger's arms, all three of them, activated and the hands transformed into buzz saws. The saws roared to life and laid into the Kaiju, landing several hits, though not doing too much damage. They went for the head with a left, but the kaiju grabbed the saw, stopping it and crushing it. Scion went for the other side, but the Kaiju blocked that too. In response, Scion activated a series of rockets on its back, launching them over the Kaiju's head. They stopped directly over it, turned their hips around, fell the way they came and threw the beast over their head.**

 **By the time the beast recovered, Alpha had charged it from behind. Alpha jumped on it, putting it in a headlock, and proceeded to punch it in the face.**

" **Yeah, that's it!" Blake yelled.**

" **Get some!" Ilia cheered.**

"You were saying, Mr. Arc?" Winter said smugly.

"Still playing out, Ice Queen Sr. Keep watching." Jaune said, eyes glued to the screen

"We always did make a great team, didn't we, Ilia?" Blake said.

"Yeah. Good times."

 **Their joy was short lived as the Kaiju swept them back with it's tail. In the distance, Ember Celica watched it all go down.**

" **Loccent, Scion and Alpha are in trouble. We're moving in." Tai reported.**

" **You are to hold your ground." Ironwood ordered. "Do not engage. We need you to carry that bomb. Do you copy?"**

 **Tai looked to Yang as Alpha and Scion started getting wrecked.**

" **We can't just stand here and watch them die. Come on!" Yang protested.**

" **Ah screw this." Tai agreed. "Loccent, we're moving in now!"**

 **Ironwood slammed the desk, and looked back at Jaune and Ruby, still awaiting orders.**

 **The Kaiju (I think this one is Otachi, so I'm gonna call it that from now on) swung it's tail overhead and grabbed onto Scion's head cockpit. It squeezed until the head finally crushed under the pressure, killing an entire generation of the Schnee family.**

Ruby grabbed Weiss, who hugged her back tightly. Winter simply sat, shocked to see herself and her siblings die in such a way. Jaune thankfully had the presence of mind to keep his mouth firmly shut. Sometimes he hated being right.

" **Scion is gone." Ilia reported, turning red with rage as the venerable Jaeger fell into the sea.**

" **Let's get this bastard." Blake growled.**

"You will be avenged, Weiss." Blake growled to herself.

 **Alpha slammed its fists together in an obvious challenge before charging Otachi. Seeing the only other threat coming for it, the beast spewed forth a fluorescent blue liquid at the Jaeger. When it made contact, it began to eat its way through the metal armor on the Jaeger's chest and arms, as well as some of the head.**

" **This is Pack Alpha, we've been hit with some kind of acid." Blake reported. "Hull has been compromised. We need back up immediately!"**

" **Just hang on, Blakey, we're on our way!" Yang yelled as she and Taiyang began moving Ember Celica. Outside, the mech proved why it was the fastest Jaeger in the world as it began to actually** _ **run**_ **to their aid instead of the usual quick stroll. Alpha fought back as best it could, but was taken down when the other Kaiju leapt from the water behind them onto their back. It held them in place as Otachi grabbed their arm in its mouth and tore it off. Leatherback pounded on their head, damaging them further, while Otachi left to engage Celica. The yellow and black Jaeger punched it three times before connecting with a fierce uppercut, gaining some distance. Meanwhile, Alpha was finally overpowered and forced into the sea, water rushing into the cockpit. Leatherback reached down and crushed the head unit with ease.**

"Mr. Arc, I- "

"Don't apologize." Jaune said firmly. "Apologies are no good to the dead."

Winter nodded and went to embrace her sister, Ruby moving to give them space.

" **Damn it! We just lost Alpha, sir." Nora reported as a flatline rang out in the control room. Jaune was cool on the outside, but inside, he was seething with rage, and Ruby could tell. She took his hand, trying to comfort him.**

 **Celica was putting up a good fight, always keeping Otachi on the back foot, never giving an inch, never relenting. Yang's rage and righteous indignation fueled them, but was kept from overpowering their rationality by Tai's years of experience. They finally grabbed the beast by the neck and waist, hoisted it above their head and threw it several hundred feet into the sea.**

" **Engaging air missiles." Tai said, activating Celica's trump card. Their arms assumed the power-up position, and their chest opened up, revealing the six launchers they had used in Attika. Unfortunately, Leatherback saw this and interfered. It's body began to glow as power moved up to its back and was released in a series of pulses. Tai and Yang yelled in agony as they felt their Jaeger power down and go limp.**

"What? How? How is that even possible!?" Jaune ranted.

"Life finds a way?" Nora said, quoting herself in an attempt to make a joke.

"To be bullshit." Jaune pouted.

 **The control room itself was affected by the pulse as all the equipment shut down at once.**

" **What's going on?" Watts asked, "What happened?"**

" **Crap. It was the blast!" Nora yelled, checking all her instruments. "It jumbled all the Jaegers' electrical circuits."**

" **What the hell was that?" Yang said angrily, taking off her helmet.**

" **Loccent." Her father said, trying the radio, his helmet already removed.**

" **I've never seen that before."**

" **They're adapting." Watts realized, "This isn't a defense mechanism, it's a weapon."**

" **Get me Celica." Ironwood ordered.**

" **Can't. The Mark 5's digital. It's fried." Nora told him, "It'll take me two hours to reroute the auxiliary. All the Jaegers, they're digital."**

" **Not all of them." Jaune said, stepping forward. "Crocea Mors is nuclear. Analog." Ironwood regarded him, trying to make his decision.**

"Do the right thing, Irondad." Jaune mumbled to himself. "It's the only way you'll win."

 **Outside, Otachi roared and ran towards the city, leaving Leatherback to guard the now disabled Ember Celica.**

 **In the city, Junior was telling Roman the situation, while his workers were busy securing their cargo in case the store was hit.**

" **Two Kaiju out in the harbor. Time to GTFO, methinks." He told his boss.**

" **Hang on a sec, what's going on?" Oobleck asked as he caught up to Roman.**

" **There are two damned Kaiju headed straight for the city." He told the man.**

" **No, no, that's not possible. There's never been two before."**

" **Well maybe that's because nobody ever Drifted with one before!" Roman rounded on him, anger clear in his visible eye. "When Jaeger pilots Drift, it's a two-way street. It sets up a connection BOTH WAYS! A hive mentality, you said! Maybe, those two Kaiju are here for you."**

 **Assuming this was true, Oobleck began panicking. "W-well, what are we gonna do?"**

" **Well, me and my crew are going to weather out this shit storm in my own private Kaiju bunker.** _ **You**_ **, however, will be headed to a public refuge. I tried it once.** _ **Once.**_ **" He pulled aside the hair over his right eye to reveal a mangled eye and a horrible scar, clear evidence of blindness in said eye. "Now, get the hell out of here." Everyone in the room drew a gun and pointed them at Oobleck, while Neo drew her blade and leveled it at his throat.**

"Okay, I may not like it, but that's pretty badass." Roman said. Neo nodded in agreement, still working on her tub of ice cream.

"Much as I hate to admit it, yeah." Nora sighed.

* * *

 **For once, I'm actually looking forward to work, mainly cuz I don't have to deal with my shitty manager anymore. So, context. I work at a grocery store called Vons, specifially in the Deli department. Or I used to, at least. Now the manager of that place is this tiny little Lebanese woman. Good lady, but shitty manager. Made my life working there all kinds of hell. Recently, I was cross-trained so I could work in the Meat department when needed and I guess I impressed the manger over there, cuz he fought to get me transferred over. So, as of today, I am working in the Meat department under a man who is basically Mexican Rocky Balboa. Yeah, I'm excited.**

 **On less enjoyable news, the plagiarist asshole is back under the screen name HunterWaters8 and he is back to his old ways. He has my entire story on there, but now I can't do anything about it without creating a Wattpad account, which I have no intention of doing. Please remember that the only official version of this story is this one right here. Any copies of this on other sites are illegal, and I would appreciate it if you guys would either ignore the pretenders or report them as soon as you find them.**

 **Anyway, see you next week. Don't forget to Follow, Favorite, and Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 4/23/19**


	23. Chapter 23- Pacific Rim, Part 8

**And we are back!**

 **So, over 600 followers, huh? That's, uh, that's a lot of people. No pressure, right? Starting today, I felt like giving some opinions I have concerning GoT, RvB, and gaming, since- aside from work- that's basically all that fills my free time when I'm not writing.**

 **Anyway, I am enjoying GoT season 8 so far. Episode 1 seemed like awkward filler, and Episode 2 even less so, but it's still engaging for me. RvB Season 17 has had its moments, with Donut and Wash being a very unlikely pair of leads. I am glad that we're getting some character progression for Donut. Him calling out the Reds and Blue on their shit and finally accepting reality (he actually calls his armor pink!) was probably the best scene yet this season.**

 **On the gaming front of my life, I finally got my hands on Anno 1800, despite the best efforts of the assholes running Epic Games Store and I like it too. It combines the aesthetic from Dawn of Discovery, the ease of construction from Anno 2070 in grouping stuff into construction trees, and the Workforce mechanic from Anno 2205 makes for a real challenge. Now if only I could will myself to play more of AC3 Remastered...**

 **One last thing before the chapter, if any of you lovely people play World of Warcraft, you can find me on the Horde side of Kirin Tor (US) under the names Stormfury and Bulladin, or on the Alliance side of Aegwynn (US) under the names Valkya and Astalon. If I'm on, feel free to hit me up, but don't expect an immediate response; I tend to tune things out when I'm grinding.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 23

 **Sirens and screams filled the streets as civilians ran for the nearest shelter, hearing the roar of the Kaiju in the harbor. Oobleck was among them, climbing over abandoned cars and vaulting barriers to get to the entrance. As he neared, he ensured his admittance by yelling that he was a doctor, though not mentioning his field. It was enough for the guards, since they let him through.**

 **He made it inside the vault along with about 100 other people. The guards closed the heavy metal doors and activated the locks, sealing them in. The room was cramped with how many people were crowded in, but it at least had lighting, plumbing and air filtration, so they could survive for at least a day inside.**

"Ren…" Nora said, gripping onto the arm of her definitely-not-boyfriend. Ren put his hand on hers, knowing what she was thinking. He was flashing back to the that day as well, the day they first met and the day his whole world came crashing down.

 **Out in the harbor, Leatherback circled the deactivated Ember Celica. Inside the useless Jaeger, Tai and Yang tried to figure out what the actual fuck was going on.**

" **There's no emergency power." Tai said.**

" **We gotta bail." Yang said.**

" **I'm gonna try something else." Tai said, detaching his harness.**

" **No," Yang yelled as he started to move about the cockpit, "Don't disengage!"**

 **On cue, Leatherback tapped the cockpit on the side of the head. Inside, sparks flew, Yang was jossled in her harness and Tai was thrown against the wall. He cried out in agony as he fell to the floor.**

"Oh, that's not gonna feel great." Tai said, remembering when he dislocated his own shoulder during a spar with Qrow during Beacon. Thank the Gods for Aura or he would have been out of action for months.

" **My arm!" he cried.**

 **Yang ran over to him. "Come on. Get up old man."**

" **Don't! Call me that!" Tai yelled, pushing the pain down. He managed to right himself with a grunt.**

"Seriously, I'm only in my thirties." Tai whined.

"Face it buddy, we're the old men now." Qrow said. "Then again, in my case I use that to my advantage." Summer gave him a quizzical look. "There are more than a few cute girls out there with a thing for older men. Ain't that right, Ice Queen Sr?" he winked at Winter, earning him a slap upside the head from Summer.

"Thank you, Mrs. Rose." Winter said with a smug grin.

" **He's right outside. We gotta get outta here now!"**

" **We're not going anywhere!" Tai said angrily, walking over to a set of boxes on the wall of the cockpit. "Now you and I are the only thing standing between that ugly bastard and a city of two million people." He tapped each box once with the side of his fist. They opened to reveal a pair of guns within each. "Now we have a choice here: we either sit and wait, or we take these flare guns and do something really stupid." He glared at Yang, who soon began to smirk as she put the pieces together.**

"Uh oh, I know that look." Ruby said.

"We all know that look, Ruby." Blake said with just as much worry, "That's Yang's 'let's do something crazy' look." Yang denied nothing, thus proving their point.

 **Air hissed as the hatch at the top of Ember Celica's head opened and Yang climbed out with a grunt, flare guns in hand. Tai followed, holding his injured arm close.**

" **How's the arm?" Yang said, half trying to lighten the mood, half genuinely concerned.**

" **Just give me the stupid gun." Tai shot back, taking the proffered gun. "Hey Ugly!" he yelled, catching the Kaiju's attention. He and Yang took aim at his face and fired. Yang's landed on his chin while Tai's hit it's left eye causing it to roar in pain.**

" **I think we just pissed it off!" Yang commented.**

"Brilliant observation." Yang said sarcastically.

 **It moved to slam it's fists into Celica's head, but was distracted when flood lights appeared behind it. The sound of helicopters soon followed. The Kaiju turned and saw Crocea Mors being flown in behind it. The transport cables disengaged and she fell into the water with a splash, her reactor spinning, clearly ready for a fight. Inside, Ruby and Jaune were raring to go.**

"Alright, time for things to get serious." Jaune said with a grin.

"Yeah!" Ruby cheered, "Go Team… what even is the name of our team attack?"

"Huh, never thought about it… Maybe, Red Knight?"

"Rose Knight!"

"I ship it." Nora said, making Jaune and Ruby blush and unable to look at each other.

"That's gonna be a thing now, isn't it?" Yang asked.

"Yup." Nora said, popping the P.

" **Alright, Ruby." Jaune said, "Get ready, this is for real!" Leatherback charged them, but they dodged to the left, ducking under it's arms to get behind it and dig into the exposed flesh on it's back.**

" **Yeah!" Tai cheered.**

" **Come on Mors! Kick his ass!" Yang yelled.**

"Oh, so now you wanna stop being a dick!" Yang said angrily.

 **Jaune and Ruby dug around until they found what they sought. They pulled out a lump of flesh from it's back and threw it away.**

"What the hell was that?" Nora asked.

"I'm guessing they just ripped out whatever organ was used to create the EMP that shut everything down." Jaune said. "They just deprived it of its only real advantage."

"Now it's just a matter of brute strength and strategy." Pyrrha finished.

 **Leatherback roared and wrapped Crocea Mors up in a crushing bearhug. It shook them a bit before spinning around and bodily throwing them into the harbor. They crashed through a bridge and rolled to their feet, knocking several shipping containers several hundred feet away in doing so. Leatherback followed them onto the quey, crushing a fuel truck underfoot. Crocea Mors looked up at it and stood as it charged.**

" **Come on!" Jaune said. "Let's do this! Together!" They charged back, using rockets on their back at the last moment to jump up and bring their fist down atop the beast's head in a Superman Punch. They grabbed it's face and gave it two solid blows before pulling back for a third.**

" **Elbow rocket!" Jaune called out.**

" **Elbow rocket engaged." Penny replied.**

 **Outside, the result was pretty self-explanatory. Crocea Mors elbow opened up and a military grade rocket lit up, quickly going from orange to blue and forming a mach cone behind the arm, which was locked in place. The lock disengaged and struck Leatherback square in the nose. The Kaiju fell back, knocking over a crane and crushing several more storage containers.**

'Wow, really?' Blake thought.

"That is so cool!" Yang cheered.

 **It grabbed the crane for a weapon and swung it at Crocea Mors' head, but the Jaeger was just a bit too far back and so it only landed a glancing blow, the arm taking the brunt of the impact. Mors went for a return strike, but Leatherback reversed the attack and struck them in the chest, knocking them back, crushing even more containers.**

 **They decided to play a little dirty and scooped up containers in both fists before turning back to their opponent. They hit it with a right cross to the face and followed up by bashing both sides of it's head with the containers and finishing with a left hook when it roared. The Kaiju fell over, but Crocea Mors quickly locked in a full nelson. Using this position, they lifted the beast up and threw it, though not far, the damn thing was so fat.**

"Looks like it has an edge in strength." Jaune said, concerned.

"Only cuz it's fatter than Dad after a good turkey dinner!" Yang argued.

"Tai?" Summer said with some warning, remembering his eating habits and the health problems that they turned into.

"I regret nothing!" he said proudly.

 **Leatherback roared, officially done with the fight and charged them. Crocea Mors caught him, but couldn't hold him back.**

" **Plasma cannon! Now!" Jaune called out.**

" **Plasma cannon engaged."**

 **Mors' right fist began transforming into the familiar weapon, simultaneously being pushed back by the charging Leatherback. They fired three times, but the beast didn't even slow.**

" **Empty the clip! EMPTY THE CLIP!"**

 **They fired five more times, taking his arm off on the eighth shot.** _ **Now**_ **he was slowing down. They repositioned and fired into the wound another three times, the Kaiju losing all the steam he had just as the back of Crocea Mors' back foot reached the end of the pier.**

 **The monster fell back, blue blood oozing from his shoulder and chest wounds. Mors' arm transformed back to normal and began to walk off. They stopped a few hundred feet away and looked back at the fallen monster.**

" **Hold on a sec." Jaune said. "I'm pretty sure this guy's dead, but just to be sure, let's look for a pulse."**

" **Okay." Ruby said, a little winded.**

 **They turned back, and the other arm turned into a plasma cannon. They then casually shot the corpse four times before deactivating the left cannon.**

" **No pulse." Jaune said with a grin, making Ruby giggle, before directing their mech into the city in search of their other prey.**

"Necessary? Not really. Cathartic? Fuck yes." Jaune said.

"So you have a problem with the general holding back, but you don't have a problem with mutilating a fallen enemy's body?" Winter questioned.

"In my counterpart's defense, the last time I used a plasma cannon on one of these things, my sister got killed. I think a small double-tap is in order."

"At the very least, they know it's dead." Weiss half-agreed.

 **In the shelter, everyone was packed together, talking amongst one another until a faint thud silenced them. More followed, the pattern sounding like footsteps. They heard roaring and screaming outside. A loud crash shook dust from the ceiling, scaring everyone. Everyone but Oobleck, who somehow knew what was happening.**

" **He stopped right above us." He whispered. "Oh my gods… oh my gods! This isn't a refuge, this is a buffet line!" Another crash. The ceiling cracked. "He knows I'm here. He knows I'm here!"**

" **Shh! He knows we're all here." A woman shushed at him.**

" **No, you don't get it! He's trying to get me!" he was beginning to panic, "He knows I'm here and he's trying to get me!" Now everyone around him was panicking.**

" _ **The Kaiju wants the little dude!"**_ **the woman yelled out in Solitan, a local Atlesian dialect.**

"Bitch." Pyrrha muttered.

"Pyrrha!" Nora said, hand over her heart in feigned shock.

"What? I know how to swear."

"Oh, I'm so proud of you!" Nora said, tackling her in a hug.

 **Now everyone was** _ **really**_ **panicking. They shoved Oobleck away from them like he had the plague, while the man himself was trying to figure out what she had said to set them all off. He was finally shoved to the floor, where he landed hard enough to knock his glasses off. He searched blindly for the only things that gave him five functioning senses as the crowded formed a wary circle around him. As Oobleck managed to find his glasses, another loud thud came from directly above them. The cracks widened further.**

 **With a final crash, two of Otachi's claws burst forth from the ceiling. They scratched around a bit before slowly retracting while Bart shakily put his glasses on. Otachi roared before sticking something that might replace his tongue down the hole he had made. It seemed to inspect Oobleck before it too retreated when a roar came from behind the beast.**

 **Crocea Mors strolled down the main boulevard, dragging a large transport ship behind it. It swung the ship up into a sword ready and waited for the beast to attack. It needn't wait long.**

"I'll give Team Rose Knight this, they know how to make an entrance." Coco said, nodding in approval.

 **Otachi leapt at the mecha, but was met with a strike to the side of it's face with the ship. Mors reversed the swing and hit the foe on the opposite side, turning it into a flurry of blows. It went for a fifth strike, but its' improvised weapon was snagged by the claw on Otachi's tail. They tried to keep a hold on it, but their foe yanked it from their hands and tossed it aside. It spun through the air and came to a stop lodged between a pair of high rises.**

 **Crocea Mors was knocked aside by the tail and fell several hundred feet away on its back, setting off the alarms of several cars. It sat up, crushing one of the cars and killing the alarm, and tried to get back to its feet. By the time they had, Otachi had run off. They gave chase, but quickly lost track of their prey.**

" **Can't pinpoint it, it's moving too quickly." Jaune said as they walked the streets in search of the beast. "Keep your eyes open." He told Ruby.**

" **Got it." she looked to the left, while Jaune focused on the right.**

" **Choppers, do you have a visual? Over." He called out.**

"They have the strength advantage now, but their opponent is too fast. Plus, that tail is essentially a third arm." Jaune said, analyzing everything to find a solution. "They're gonna have to get creative here if they want to live."

 **They came to a stop at an intersection, trying to decide their next move. Suddenly, their prey jumped out at them from within an office building to their left. It tackled into them, causing them to fall into another high rise. They recovered quickly and landed a pair of uppercuts before going for a jab. Unfortunately, Otachi ducked the third attack and sent it into the building behind it. Otachi grabbed the mech and threw it into another building. It pushed them through to the other side, where Crocea Mors used the momentum to roll back onto its feet.**

 **As Mors recovered, Otachi fired a jet of acid from its mouth at his foe. Mors saw it coming and quickly dodged the attack, letting it hit the build behind them, where it melted through most of the metal. The saw the damage it inflicted and their next move became clear.**

"Shit, forgot about that." Jaune cursed his memory. "Okay, first things first, get rid of that."

 **Quickly, as the enemy roared a challenge, they thrust their hand down the beast's gullet, trying to repeat what they had done with Leatherback. This time, their foe put up more of a fight, wrapping his tail around their torso and free arm and snapping at their head with the claw. They dodged a few tries before grabbing it and holding it in place.**

" **I'll hold it!" Jaune called to Ruby. "Vent the coolant on the left side."**

" **Got it!" Ruby said, knowing his idea as she pressed the required buttons.**

 **White mist sprayed from circular vents in Crocea Mors abdomen. Immediately, the tail began to seize up until it moved no more. Mors shattered the ice by flexing its arm and used its now free hand to hold the beast in place as it tore an organ from within.**

"Ha! Two Nevermore with one bullet!" Ruby cheered, high-fiving Jaune.

 **Otachi roared in pain and leapt at Mors, forcing it to the ground. It stood with its legs on their chest and revealed a set of wings from under its arms.**

"Oh, now that's just cheating!" Yang yelled.

"Hax! I call hax!" Ruby agreed.

 **The Kaiju took to the skies, taking Crocea Mors with it. They fought as best they could the whole way up, but it meant little as the beast carried them into the upper atmosphere.**

" **Atmosphere loss in progress." Penny reported.**

" **Temperature's dropping!" Jaune said, checking a readout, "We're losing oxygen! Both plasma cannons are shot. We out of options, Ruby."**

" _ **No, there's still something left!"**_ **Ruby said in Animanian. She pressed a button near her.**

" **Sword activated." Penny said. Outside, a sword emerged from Crocea Mors wrist.**

"Hax! I call hax!" Weiss said in an imitation of Ruby.

"Hey, whose side are you on?" Ruby whined.

" _ **For my family!"**_ **Ruby declared as she and Jaune sliced their foe in half from hip to shoulder. The body began to fall, as did Mors, though at least they were able to turn around so they could see where they were going to land.**

 **Ironwood, Watts, and Nora, along with a large number to the Shatterdome's staff ran out onto the helipads, ignoring the pouring rain.**

" **Look, there!" Nora said, pointing at a ball of fire plummeting towards the city. Ironwood looked through a pair of binoculars and saw that it was Mors.**

" **Mors, listen to me!" Ironwood said, talking to them through a walkie-talkie, "Loosen all the shock absorbers, use your gyroscope as balance, and ball up! It's your only chance!"**

" **Fuel purge!" Jaune yelled, pressing a series of buttons to purge the nuclear reactor. The force of the purge launched them backwards, diminishing their momentum, but they were still very high up. If they impacted, they could very well devastate the city. They aimed for a relatively empty area centered on a stadium. "We're coming in too fast! We're coming in too fast, brace for impa- " they impacted in the middle of the field, kicking up a huge cloud of dirt and debris that spread throughout the immediate area.**

"Holy crap." Yang whispered. She prayed Ruby was okay.

Ruby and Jaune themselves were on the edge of their seats. It looked like they had landed on their feet, but didn't know if that was even a good thing. Their legs could be FUBAR for all they knew and Mors would be just another wrecked Jaeger.

 **Ironwood looked through the binoculars again and saw Crocea Mors rise from the crater it had made, shaking off the rubble and dirt and standing proud. As the crowd behind them cheered, the three leaders sighed and chuckled in relief. The students in the theater cheered along with them.**

" **Ruby, talk to me." Jaune said, worried. "You okay?"**

" **Yeah." Ruby panted, looking to her partner. "You?" They started laughing as the adrenaline high wore off.**

" **Go to Dr. Oobleck, now!" Ironwood told Watts.**

" **Yes, Sir!" Watts said with a salute and a smile.**

 **Ironwood turned to Nora, "I want the two remaining Jaegers back to 100% functionality!"**

" **On it, boss!"**

"Man, this movie sure delivers on the fight sequences." Yang commented.

"I know, right?" Ruby agreed, "This is giving me so many weapon ideas I can't even keep 'em straight in my head."

" _I can fix that."_ Logan said, and a pencil and a pad of paper appeared in Ruby's lap. She cheered and immediately set to work sketching out new weapon plans.

* * *

 **I know this thing is 3.1k words, but damn it feels short.**

 **Ah well, next week is the finale, so I'll make it up then. That's right, next week will be double length. And after that, you'll find out who won between The Mummy and Star Wars.**

 **Don't forget to Follow, Favorite, and Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 4/30/19**


	24. Chapter 24- Pacific Rim, Finale

**Alright folks, buckle up. This is gonna be a long one.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 24

"How's it going with the plans there, sis?" Yang asked, looking at Ruby's sketches.

"Well, it's not perfect yet, but I think I found a possible method of having your prosthetic arm turn into a miniaturized plasma cannon." She said, rubbing her chin in thought.

"Why bother?" Yang said, deploying her wrist gun, "It's already a gun."

"Yeah, but wouldn't you rather have the option of something with more ompf?"

"Nah, the plasma cannon seems like a mid-range weapon, and Ember Celica already has that option depending on what ammo I'm using. The wrist blades, though, that's something I'd be interested in. Nice little 'surprise, bitch' kind of thing."

" **We're gonna harvest the skin, the talons, and the wing." Roman told his crew as they prepared to head out. "Atlas big-shots'll go nuts for that stuff. Let me see that map!" Neo walked up and held out a map. Roman pointed to a business sector in the city. "Here's where the Kaiju fell. Here's where we concentrate our efforts."**

" **You got it boss." Junior said, motioning for the Malachites to follow him.**

" **Hey!" Came a voice from the secret entrance. Oobleck stood in the storefront, shaken and soaking wet. "Alright, guess who's back, you one-eyed bitch! And you owe me a kaiju brain." Roman smiled at the brass the kid had grown in just under an hour as he regarded the shaking scientist.**

 **At the Shatterdome, Jaune and Ruby, still in their armor, were greeted by thunderous applause from all the workers. They shook hands and gave quick hugs until Tai walked up through the crowd. He was in his civilian clothes, with his injured arm in a sling. He shook Jaune's hand and looked back at an ashamed-looking Yang.**

" **My kid'll never admit it," he said quietly, "But she's grateful. We both are."**

 **Jaune looked to Yang, who gave an acknowledging nod that said 'good job' and 'I'm sorry' at the same time.**

"You're not out of the dog house yet, asshole." Yang said.

" **Mr. Arc! Ms. Rose!" Ironwood said as he stepped off an elevator and made his way over to them, the crowd parting before him. "In all my years fighting, I have never seen anything quite like that. Well done." His smile was faint, but it was enough to split Ruby's face in a glowing smile. "I'm proud of you. I'm proud of us all." He changed into speech-making mode. "But, as harsh as it sounds, there is no time to celebrate. We lost two crews. No time to grieve. Reset that clock!" he ordered, only to receive quiet mutterings from those nearby. He looked to Ruby, who was putting a hand under her nose. He checked his own to see blood on his finger. He took out a handkerchief and used it to stop the bleeding. "Reset the clock!" he repeated before storming off.**

 **Jaune looked to Ruby for answers, but he knew she would give none. She knew, of course, but it wasn't her place to tell him. Nodding, Jaune decided to just get answers from the source.**

"Well this is ominous." Blake said.

 **Out in the city, Roman stood amongst the ruins of what remained of Otachi, the other half having landed somewhere in the ocean, Oobleck waiting impatiently at his side. His workers grinded away at the corpse diligently, thankful their boss cared enough to ensure his workers had the proper safety equipment. Roman Torchwick was many things; thief, a menace to society, and a war profiteer, but let it never be said he didn't have a soul. Even in his days as a dust thief, he had always assured his crimes were of a more genteel nature; nobody was to be harmed, if at all possible, and nothing was to be taken beyond the goal of as much dust as possible.**

 **This kid, however, was testing even his rather extensive patience.**

" **I still can't believe what you did to me." He complained, trying to make conversation, "I mean, I could have been eaten."**

" **Well, that was certainly part of the plan." Roman said dryly. Okay, maybe he had a little bit less soul than most, but hey, if you were gonna survive the criminal underworld, you had to sacrifice a few things. "Lucky for you, that didn't become necessary, huh?"**

" **Okay, yeah. Thank you so much, you're so kind." Oobleck shot back, "Now can you please tell me what is taking your workers so long to get that brain?"**

" **Well, they have to pump the cavity full of CO2, just like any other laparoscopic surgery."**

"Lapra-what?" Yang asked.

"Laparoscopic, Yang." Summer corrected her, "It's a kind of minimally-invasive abdominal surgery utilizing small incisions instead of one large cut."

" **Yes, of course, obviously. The CO2's going to delay the acidic reaction- "**

" **And," Torchwick interrupted, "It allows us to harvest. But our boys need oxygen pumped int their suits. Means they have to move slowly." He pulled out a hand-held radio and spoke into it. "Hey Junior, mind giving us a sitrep?"**

" **We've reached the upper pelvic area" Junior replied with a grunt as he pushed some muscle aside and moved into a large pocket within the body, followed by the Malachites. They all wore hazmat suits with O2 being pumped directly in. "We're moving to the 25** **th** **vertebra. Whoo! Boss, be glad you ain't in here. Even through the suit, it smells like dead catfish in here." He shined his light around and found his target. "Boss, the secondary brain…" he looked at the massive organ, which was dripping with fluorescent blue blood, "It's damaged. Total loss."**

 **Oobleck cursed at this. "Son of a bitch! How could they screw that up?!"**

" **Wait. Wait." Junior said, catching Oobleck's attention.**

" **Did he say 'wait'? Why wait?" he ran over and took the radio from Torchwick's hands, who immediately grabbed it back. Seeing her boss's irritation, Neo readied to draw her concealed blade.**

" **Do you hear that?" Junior said as the fleshy cavern shook with a thump, "It's like a heartbeat."**

"There is no way that thing is still alive." Weiss said.

"Oh no. Oh no, no, no…" Jaune said, putting the pieces together and really not liking the conclusion.

 **Roman didn't really hear anything, but Oobleck did. He took the radio from Roman again. "Oh my god. Oh my god! Listen to this." Roman tried to grab it back, but Oobleck blocked him, focusing on the radio. "No, no, no, just listen. Just listen. Do you hear this?" The thumping continued within the cavern. Outside, Oobleck realized what he was hearing and loosened his grip on the radio, allowing Roman to snatch it back.**

" **It's pregnant." He said.**

"What?" the crowd said in disbelief.

 **Suddenly, screaming could be heard over the radio, and moments later, a miniature Otachi- well, miniature for a Kaiju- burst from the cut where Junior had gone in. The nearby workers scattered in panic, causing a general panic to spread to the entire work area as the baby Kaiju chased them down. Oobleck fell behind in the stampede and was left alone as the infant caught up to him. The fell forwards and crawled to get away from the monster. The monster reared up to attack him, and he curled up into the fetal position, only for it to collapse in front of him, stone dead.**

 **Looking back, he saw its dead eyes and was shocked to see that Jaune was right. He never wanted to see another Kaiju up close again, at least not one that was alive anyway.**

" **I knew it." Roman said, walking up from behind, startling the doctor, "Gone. His lungs weren't fully formed. Umbilical cord tied around his neck, no way he could survive outside the womb for more than a few minutes. One look! That's all I needed. I knew he wouldn't make it." He pulled out a butterfly knife, spun out the blade and threw it at the beast, hitting it in the flesh between its nostrils. "Ugly little bastard." He said retrieving his knife and wiping the blade with a piece of cloth, "Anyway, I would have-" Suddenly, the infant's head reached out and grabbed Roman in its jaws, tossing him a bit before swallowing him whole. It let out a final roar and finally fell over. This time, it didn't get back up.**

 **Nearby, he saw Roman's hat sitting on the ground. He walked over and picked it up, to stunned for words. He considered putting it on in memory of the man, but Neo quickly walked up and took it from him, holding it close to her chest as tears welled in her eyes.**

"Well, that's one way to go out." Torchwick commented.

"Wait, you're okay with seeing yourself die in front of you?" Emerald asked, surprised.

"Spearmint, there's an old saying; 'we were born in order to die.' If that's true, why worry about how you'll die? I preferred to live my life the way I wanted, at least I did until a certain _someone_ put me on a leash and got me locked in an Atlas brig." He glared at Cinder who was completely unapologetic.

 **Back at the base, Ironwood coughed as he splashed some water on his face, not hearing Jaune come in.**

" **So, how sick are you?" The blonde pilot asked, leaning against a wall, arms crossed over his chest, "And why didn't you tell me?"**

 **Ironwood sighed, knowing he couldn't order his way out of this one. "What's to tell?" he grabbed a towel and began drying his hands. "You know, those Mark 1's, we scraped those bad boys together in 14 months. Last thing we were thinking about was radiation shielding. I ran nearly a dozen missions with Qrow, Ruby's father. He and Summer, his wife, helped me stay under the medical radar for a while, but the last time I jockeyed was Shion. I finished the fight solo, but for three hours, I burned. They warned me if I ever stepped foot in a Jaeger again the toll would be too much." He looked at Jaune with complete honesty. "You and I are the only ones that ever ran solo combat. That's why I brought you here."**

"Huh, that actually explains a lot." Yang commented. She and Ruby were only cousins, not sisters. Qrow and Summer had passed, making Ruby an orphan, and Ironwood adopted her, probably her godfather in the first place. She also gained an amount of respect for this Ironwood. Knowing he was a former pilot, and thus had seen some of the same shit her alternate had, made it clear why he was in charge of the Jaeger program. She had assumed he was more like the Ironwood she knew very little about and had something of a grudge against for not believing her back at the Vytal Festival.

'I think Qrow's broken.' Tai thought, looking at the dumb grin his old partner had.

 **A bell tolling informed Ironwood of an incoming call on his vid-screen. He turned it on to see Nora in the control room.**

" **What is it?"**

" **Sir, it's happening." Nora said, worry evident in her voice, "I just got two signatures with unprecedented dilation, 40-meter spikes."**

" **What Category?"**

" **Checking the ratios, but Category 4 seems like a safe bet."**

" **Where are they headed?"**

" **That's the thing. They're not headed anywhere. They're hovering just over the Breach. It's like they're protecting it or something."**

"Hmm." Jaune said, pondering the information.

"Your analysis, Mr. Arc?" Ozcar asked.

"Not good. Assuming they are on defense, that means they know our plan."

"How could they have found out?" Weiss said, before the pieces clicked in her head, "Unless-"

"Yup, they got it from Oobleck. Roman said that the Drift is a two-way connection, so they probably gleaned the information from him when he Drifted with the brain fragment."

"So then, can we assume that these two Kaiju possess as many advantages as possible to defend the Breach?" Winter asked.

"Absolutely, but those advantages are limited. Underwater fighting changes things. The only real advantage I can come with is a fish-like form to maximize speed and maneuverability. Acid spit is out since there'd be too much resistance underwater, and I can't see an EMP working in that environment." Jaune continued to list off more advantages, with Winter listening intently. His attitude towards authority was a problem, likely a result of prolonged exposure to Qrow, but his tactical abilities were too impressive for her to ignore.

" **Alright. Mors, Celica, on-deck."**

" **Sir, Tai can't ride. His arm…"**

" **You heard me."**

"Is he gonna do what I think he is?" Blake said, eyes narrowing.

"I think so…" Jaune said.

"What? Tell us!" Nora said.

"Spoilers." Jaune said, flicking her in the forehead.

 **Out at the Kaiju impact site, the black-market crew had finished their work and the Atlesian government was taking over, cordoning off the area with police lines and barricades. The only civilians allowed in were Watts and Oobleck, the latter of whom was setting up his make-shift Drift rig, while the former was talking with Nora in the control room.**

" **Two signatures?" he said, confused, "Two? There's only two? Not three, like I predicted?!"**

" **Arthur, I haven't exactly had a very good day, okay?!" Oobleck said as he thrust a probe into the skull of the dead Kaiju infant.**

"That's putting it mildly." Yang deadpanned.

" **I got about five minutes before brain death occurs-"**

" **Should be three…" Watts said to himself, mentally going over his math.**

" **-And I don't wanna spend it talking about your theories!" he leapt down from the corpse and began typing rapidly on the key board.**

" **This is all wrong!" Watts said, ignoring his colleagues' words. "There should be** _ **three**_ **Kaijus coming through the breach, not two!"**

" **There should be three and there's two? I'm sorry, it hurts to be wrong, doesn't it, Arthur?"**

" **I am not wrong, but there is something here that we don't understand."**

" **Okay. Arthur, hopefully we can argue about any mistakes in your predictive model in the future. But in the meantime, the neural interface is way off the charts! If you want to help, help with that!"**

" **Bartholomew, I am not wrong." Watts insisted as Oobleck put on the neural interface rig and activated it. "There is only one way to make sure, and that is to do this... "he typed a code sequence into the computer, "together." Oobleck looked at him dumbfounded. "That's what the Jaeger pilots do, isn't it? Share the neural load?"**

"Thank you, finally some character development for this guy." Blake sighed.

"Kinda forced, don't you think?" Ilia said.

"Still better than nothing."

" **You're serious?" Oobleck was still somewhat shocked. This was the guy who had fought against him and mocked him from Day 1. And now he was willing to help him? It really must be the End of Days. "You- you would do that for me? Or,** _ **with**_ **me, I guess?"**

" **Well, with world-wide destruction a certain alternative, do I really have a choice?"**

 **Oobleck grinned, holding his hand up for a fist bump. "Then say it with me, my man; 'We're gonna own this bad boy!'"**

" **By Jove, we are going to own this thing for sure!" Watts said as he awkwardly tried to figure out what Oobleck wanted him to do with his fist.**

'Who is this man and what did he do with the real Watts?' Salem thought to herself as she looked over the menu. Somehow, she felt hunger and thirst creeping up on her.

 **Back at the Dome, everyone in the hanger was scrambling to get last minute deployment preparations done, except for Yang.**

" **Hey, Nora! Nora!" she yelled, walking up to the ginger-in-chief of the base.**

 **Nora turned to face her. "You're not suited up." She said, focusing on her tablet.**

" **Yeah, I'm aware of that, lover girl. I need to know what's going on."**

" **The General said suit up. So, suit up."**

" **Nora, I can't pilot Celica on my own. Dad's hurt, so who's going to be my co-pilot?" she asked as Nora walked over to Jaune and Ruby, who were already geared up and ready to go. As if in answer to her question, the hanger's main doors opened up and in walked General Ironwood, decked out in full combat armor, Taiyang at his side. They walked up to the foursome and Ironwood winced, adjusting the gear at his waist.**

"That is an… interesting look for James." Glynda said, trying to make it sound like a compliment.

" **I don't remember it being so tight." He said.**

" **There's a fat joke there, but that's beneath me." Tai said, lightening the mood.**

"Not beneath me! Looks like someone needs to lay off the Twinkies, eh, Ice Queen?" Qrow jeered.

"You're just digging a deeper hole, Branwen."

 **Ruby quickly took Ironwood's arm and pulled him away from the group. Anger and worry warred for dominance on her face. "Getting in that Jaeger will kill you." She said, tears welling up.**

" **Not getting into one would kill us all." She replied. "Listen, you are a brave girl. I'm so lucky to have seen you grow. But, if I'm going to do this, I need you to protect me." The tears finally broke through, and Ruby sniffled a little. "Can you do that?"**

 **Ruby wiped the tears away. "Yes, sir."**

 **"** **Good." He hugged her and climbed up onto the foot of a Jaeger. "Everyone, listen up! Today… today… at the edge or our hope, at the end of our time, we have chosen not only to believe in ourselves, but in each other! Today, there's not a man or woman in here who stands alone. Not today. Today we face the monsters that are at our door, and take the fight to them. Today, we are CANCELLING THE APOCALYPSE!" The room erupted in cheers and applause at his speech.**

"Very well spoken." Ozcar said.

"Indeed." Glynda agreed.

" **Hey General!" Yang said as she caught up to Ironwood in the halls. "You know, that was a great speech and all, but, uh, how exactly are you and I supposed to match up in there?"**

" **I carry nothing into the Drift. No memories, no fear, no rank. And as for you?" He turned to face her, "Well, you're easy. You're an egotistical jerk with mommy issues. A simple puzzle I solved on Day One." Tai walked up behind them with Zwei, who barked at them. "But you are your father's daughter. So, we'll Drift just fine."**

"Wow, I have never felt insulted and complimented at the same time…" Yang muttered.

"It's not inaccurate, though." Ruby said.

"Don't worry," Blake reassured her, "You've gotten much better."

 **Somehow, Yang could sense the finality of his words and she knew that she probably wasn't coming back from this. "Works for me." She said, shaking the General's hand before turning to her father.**

" **Hey, kid." Tai said, tearing up. "When you drift with someone, you feel like there's nothing to talk about. I just don't want to regret all the things I didn't say."**

" **Don't." Yang told him, holding back tears as well. "You don't need to. I've always known." Zwei barked, grabbing her attention. She knelt down and smiled at the corgi, scratching him behind his ears. "Hey, handsome." Zwei groaned in satisfaction. "Oh, I'm gonna miss you." She stood back up and told her father, "Look after him for me."**

" **James!" Tai said as she walked off. "That's my daughter you have there. My daughter."**

Yang stood up and walked over to her father and gave him a crushing hug which he returned in kind. "I love you, Dad."

"I love you too, kid."

 **Jaune and Ruby were busy prepping for the Drift in Crocea Mors.**

" **You know, Ruby," Jaune said, "All those years I spent living in the past… I never really thought about the future." Ruby looked up at him. "Till now. I never did have good timing." He said with a chuckle, making her smile.**

 **Two flights of Bullheads carried the two Jaegers out over the Great Ocean, with Ember Celica now fitted with its nuclear payload on its back.**

 **Back at the Kaiju corpse, Oobleck and Watts were hooked up to the make-shift Drift machine.**

" **You ready?" Oobleck asked, grabbing the controls.**

" **Of course." Watts said nervously.**

" **Initiating neural handshake in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1!" he pressed the button and groaned as he felt the Drift wash over him again. It was much the same as it was before, but this time he felt Watts' memories mingling with his own, as well as those of the infant Kaiju. When it finally ended, both men were shaking, though Oobleck was taking it far better than Watts, who had a substantial nosebleed, and had gone as pale as Weiss.**

" **Are you okay?" Oobleck said, disengaging his neural rig.**

" **Yes, of course." Watts said, quickly disengaging his own rig, "Completely fine." He then quickly ran to the nearest trash can, where he violently deposited everything he had eaten that day.**

Cinder smiled at Watts' humiliation. It was so satisfying to see one of the people she loathed most in such a state, especially after what he had put her through during her recovery.

 **Oobleck saw this and rubbed his back. "The Drift." Watts whispered, turning to his colleague, "You saw it? Did you?"**

" **Yeah. Listen, we have to warn them. The Jaegers, the Breach, the plan!"**

" **It's not going to work!"**

"Shitshitshit!" Jaune muttered to himself. Could this be related to how all previous attempts at the Breach had failed?

"Well, that's just perfect!" said Nora.

 **Back over the ocean, the Bullheads disengaged their cargo of giant robots. They fell into the ocean up to their waists. They closed all access ports and began to walk until they were completely submerged.**

 **In the control room, Tai took over Ironwood's place behind Nora.**

" **Both neural handshakes strong, boss." Nora reported.**

 **Tai nodded affirmative, and spoke into a mic, "Two signatures still in circle formation, Codenames Scutter and Raiju. Both Category 4."**

" **Roger that." Ironwood spoke. "Keep it up. It's half a mile to the ocean cliff, three thousand meters to the Breach."**

" **Half a mile?" Yang asked, "I can't even see an inch down here. How are we supposed to deliver the bomb?"**

" **Visibility's zero." Jaune observed, "Switching to instruments." They were going to have to rely on the computer rather than their eyes. A Kaiju swam past them, unseen by them, but not by the computer.**

 **Nora pointed it out to Tai, who relayed the info.**

" **Mors, we got movement on your right. I repeat, three o clock. Three o clock!"**

 **Jaune checked his right, but Penny chimed in.**

" _ **One-hundred-meter radius clear."**_

" **Right flank's clear, I got nothing." Jaune told them.**

" **Left now and moving fast!" Nora reported "Fastest Kaiju on record!"**

 **Jaune shook his head. "I don't see anything, it's moving too fast."**

"Looks like you were correct, Mr. Arc." Ozcar said, expecting it.

" **Eyes on the prize, Mors." Yang told them. "Six hundred meters from the drop."**

 **A chopper landed at the dome, releasing Watts and Oobleck, who bolted for the control room.**

 **The Jaegers reached the shelf and jumped down, the breach in sight.**

" **400 meters and closing!" Yang reported. She was right to sound optimistic; it looked like they might actually pull this off and come back alive after all!**

"Man, either they're really moving or there are a lot of small time skips going on." Nora said.

" **Bogeys are stopping." Nora reported, bringing up a general overhead picture of the battlefield. The two Kaiju were on the other side of the Breach from Celica and Mors, holding their ground.**

Jaune frowned at this. Even to a novice like him this whole thing was starting to reek something fierce. They have the advantage, they have the initiative, they should use it while it was still there to be had. So why would they just stop moving like that?

" **Celica, bogeys are stopping. One o clock!" Tai relayed. At the info, Celica and Mors stopped in their tracks.**

" **General, what are you doing?" Yang yelled.**

" **They're stopping. Why the hell are they stopping?" he answered.**

" **I don't give a damn, sir! We're three hundred meters from the drop!"**

" **Something's not right."**

" **Celica, the bogies aren't gonna wait." Taiyang said. "Take the leap, now!"**

" **Don't do it!" Oobleck yelled as he and Watts ran into the control room, "Don't do it, it's not gonna work! Move, you fascist!" he shoved Tai out of the way and took the mic from him. "Blowing up the Breach is not gonna work!"**

"Alright, let's hear it." Jaune said, sitting forward and listening intently.

" **What do you mean? What's not going to work?" Ironwood asked.**

" **Sir, just because the Breach is open doesn't mean you're going to be able to get the bomb through."**

" **The Breach genetically reads the Kaiju like a barcode at the supermarket and then let's them pass." Watts explained.**

" **Okay? So you're going to have to trick the Breach into thinking you have the same code."**

" **And how are we supposed to do that?" Jaune asked.**

" **By making it think** _ **you are a Kaiju.**_ **"**

" **You're going to have to lock onto the Kaiju and ride it into the Breach." Watts told them. "The Breach will then read the Kaiju's genetic code and let you pass."**

" **If you don't, then the bomb will simply deflect off the Breach like it always has, and the mission** _ **will**_ **fail." Oobleck finished.**

Jaune sat back, wide-eyed. Everything made sense now. "Brilliant." He whispered. "They were always playing the long game. They designed their way in to be effectively one-way for anyone who wasn't them and kept us busy fighting their pawns."

"So they used them as chaff?" Pyrrha asked in disbelief.

"It's attrition warfare." Winter said. "Any life lost is an acceptable one so long as it provides results."

"And even when they lost, they won by gaining data on us." Jaune added. "The benefits of a hive mentality."

 **Taiyang took back the mic, annoyed more at Oobleck than the information he and Watts brought back. "Alright, now that you've heard all that, Celica, take the leap."**

" **Sir, I have a third signature emerging from the Breach." Nora reported, panicked.**

" **Third signature emerging." Taiyang relayed, before turning to Nora. "What category?"**

" **It's a triple event." Oobleck whispered.**

" **Oh, Gods, I was right." Watts said in horror.**

" **Loccent, what category is it?" Ironwood asked. Nora couldn't even say it, simply moving so that Taiyang could see the readout. His eyes widened and he swallowed his growing fear before he told them.**

" **Category 5. First one ever."**

 **It slowly emerged from the Breach, glowing orange rather than the usual blue of its lesser cousins. It was a bizarre beast, having the head of a hammerhead shark, a pair of clawed arms, and a mass of tentacles for legs.**

"So, yeah, I'm just gonna call this one Cthulu, no matter what the film says." Yang joked, lightening the mood.

"Rabble, rabble, rabble, all hail Cthulu, Dark Lord and Master." Blake said.

 **Ember Celica took a fighting stance, scissor blades coming from out of its wrists similar to Mors' sword.**

 **"Celica, we see it." Jaune told them, a plan already in mind. "We're about a hundred meters back. We're gonna come around your three, try to flank him. Standard two team formation. Just try to keep him busy a little longer." Unfortunately, this plan didn't take the two other Kaiju into account, as evidenced by the speedy Kaiju ramming into their left side. It tried to take a chunk out of them, but Mors reacted quickly, grabbing its jaws and holding it at bay, but not without losing some ground. Once they stopped, Mors headbutted the monster twice before throwing it aside. They then jumped the monster and caught it in a headlock.**

 **Meanwhile, Celica squared off against Cthulu, who began to spin his tentacle around as he approached the Jaeger.**

 **"** **Brace for impact!" Ironwood ordered shortly before they were hit and sent flying, crashing into an underwater pillar.**

"Hot damn! Anyone else feel that?" Sun said.

 **Crocea Mors deployed the sword in its left arm and prepared to kill its foe, when said foe's friend interrupted, swimming in and grabbing the sword arm in its jaws, and tearing off the offending arm. Jaune and Ruby howled in pain at the loss, but wasted no time, deploying their other sword and driving it through their original opponent's brain. However, this somehow didn't kill it.**

 **"Let's get this son of a bitch!" Jaune roared, truly pissed off. Sword still in its brainpan, they dragged it over to a nearby thermal vent and stuck its face in there. Skin and bone melted off, giving it the chance to break free, but also leaving it in horrible agony. Jaune and Ruby too were tired and in pain, shown by them falling to one knee.**

" **Mors, coming up on your twelve-o clock, full speed!" Tai told them over the radio, "Get out of the way now!"**

"Hey Jaune, you thinking what I'm thinking?" Ruby said with a grin.

"I do believe I am." He replied.

 **Looking up, they saw the Kaiju that had taken their arm charging them through the water. Seeing an opportunity, they took it and extended their sword. The beast's momentum was too great to stop or divert and so it cut itself clean down the middle, from the tip of its nose to the end of its tail. Mors stumbled, falling to one knee, its foe smote behind it.**

"Crocea Mors wins. Fatality." Jaune said, dropping his voice as low as possible.

 **Meanwhile, Celica was recovering from the Category 5 hit it took.**

" **We're fucked!" Yang said, checking the readouts, "We can't deliver the payload! We're still on, but the hull is compromised and half our systems are offline, sir!"**

" **We need to- "**

 **Cthulu charged them, tackling them backwards through several more pillars before driving them into the ground. They rolled through, managing to get a swipe in before Cthulu grabbed their arms and swung them around, swiping at them a few times. Using their scissor blades, they caught their foe under the arms and held him in place. They lifted him up and allowed his weight to slowly cut his arms off. He managed to sit up straight, and let out a roar that had more shockwave than sound.**

The faunus in the room let out loud cries of pain, as they covered their ears, in Blake, Kali and Velvet's cases, their animal ears.

"The hell was that?!" Sun yelled.

"It was like a dog whistle dialed up to a billion!" Velvet replied.

"Some form of species-specific communication, perhaps?" Weiss theorized.

"Whatever it was, it fucking hurt! OW!" Sun cried.

 **This theory appeared to be correct, as the other Kaiju turned away from Crocea Mors and quickly swam towards its' brethren.**

" **Both Kaijus converging on Celica, fast!" Nora reported and Taiyang relayed.**

" **Hang on, Celica!" Jaune said as Crocea Mors slowly made their way to their comrades on one good leg, using their sword as a crutch. "We're coming to ya!"**

" **No!" Ironwood ordered. "Mors, do not come to our aid! Do you copy? Stay as far back as you can!"**

" **We can still reach you!" Jaune protested. "We're coming for you!"**

" **No, Jaune, listen to me!" Ironwood protested back, "You know exactly what you need to do! Mors is nuclear! Take her to the Breach!"**

"What are they doing?" Nora said, confused.

"They're gonna blow their nuke to take out the Kaiju." Jaune explained, having figured it out. "Than he wants me and Ruby- "

"Ruby and I." Weiss corrected.

"- to take Crocea Mors into the breach and use her reactor to finish the job."

 **Jaune caught his meaning and agreed. "I hear you, sir. Headed for the Breach."**

 **Ironwood took off his helmet, not able to breathe as well. "Ruby! Listen! You can finish this! I'll always be here for you. You can always find me in the Drift."**

 **Ruby felt like crying, but Jaune's strength was her strength, so she didn't.**

" **We're a walking nuclear reactor." Jaune told her. "We can destroy the Breach." She nodded and they turned around.**

 **Ember Celica's cockpit was, in a word, fucked. The red warning lights flooded the room, sparks shot everywhere, and water was vigorously dripping in. It was this environment that Yang Xiao Long and James Ironwood made their decision. This would be their last stand. Cthulu still stood before them, with its lesser friends closing in.**

" **What can we do, sir?" Yang asked.**

" **We can clear a path, for the lady!" Ironwood said. Yang wanted to ask what that made her, but she knew she never acted much like a lady, so what was the point in being offended now?**

" **They're gonna detonate the payload." Nora realized.**

" **Well, my old man had a saying." Yang said as she took off her helmet and shook out her mane of blonde hair. "He said, 'If you have a shot, you take it.' So let's do this! It's been a pleasure, sir." Together, the flipped a set of switches to arm the device, then Yang pushed her activation button, then Ironwood flipped his. They heard the device power up behind them.**

 **As if they knew what was coming, the two Kaiju charged at the Jaeger, but it was too late.**

 **The inferno was quenched, being several miles underwater, but the blast was no less powerful. It leveled everything within several hundred feet and sent the water back so fast that an air pocket was briefly created. Crocea Mors, being in the radius of the blast wave, dug its sword into the dirt to act as an anchor. When it had dissipated, they looked around, amazed at what was left before looking behind them, seeing the water rushing back into position and bracing for the impact that rocked them.**

"Yang, are you okay?" Ruby asked her sister hesitantly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" she responded casually.

"How about the fact you just died in a nuclear explosion?" Coco suggested.

"That what pretty bad-ass wasn't it?" Seeing the looks her friends were giving her, she threw her hands up defensively. "What do you want from me? I've always been pretty go-with-the-flow with my life, why would I care how I die so long as I lived the way I wanted to? So long as you guys celebrate my life instead of mourning my death, I'm fine going out in a blaze of glory."

" **Systems are critical." Jaune reported as Ruby recovered, "Fuel's leaking, and our right leg's crippled." He looked at his partner. "Let's finish this."**

" **What are they doing?" Oobleck asked.**

" **Finishing the mission." Tai said solemnly.**

" **Loccent, we have the Kaiju carcass. We're headed for the Breach." Jaune said, as Crocea Mors limped toward the Breach, dragging one half of the Kaiju remains behind it. "You guys better be right about this, 'cause one way or another, we're finishing this." As they neared the cliff, the Category 5 dropped in front of them and roared. Jaune seemed unfazed by this turn.**

" **On my count." He said, Ruby nodding. "Three… two… one… now!" they each flipped a switch and a pair of rockets on Crocea Mors' back fired, launching them forward. Surprised, Cthulu was unable to react fast enough to avoid the incoming tackle. The force threw him off balance and he fell backward into the Breach, Crocea Mors holding him in place with their sword through his side.**

"Ha! Surprise, bitch!" Nora cheered.

" **Hold on!" Jaune shouted as they fell, Ruby growling as she strained to keep hold of the monster.**

 **But the Category 5 wasn't going down easily. He used his tentacles to jab at Mors' back, and though not looking like it, it did a little damage.**

" **Ruby's oxygen is down!" Nora yelled, sliding over to another station.**

" **Can you reroute it?" Tai asked.**

" **Actively trying!" Nora growled.**

 **In the trench, Ruby was still trying to hold Cthulu in place. Seeing her struggle, Jaune found something he could do to help.**

" **Hold on Ruby!" he said, pushing a few buttons, "I'mma burn this son of a bitch!"**

 **Using the nuclear reactor's fuel purge, he managed to burn a hole straight through Cthulu's chest, finally killing the beast. With him out of the way, all they had to do was keep falling. Electricity began to envelop them as they neared the portal, culminating in their complete disappearance as they hit it.**

" **They're through!" Nora sighed, as did everyone else.**

Including those in the theater.

 **The other side of the portal was… hard to describe. It resembled the inside of a brain somewhat, electricity arcing between honeycomb pillars, like electrostatic discharge from neurons and everything was shades of cobalt blue, the same color as the Kaiju blood.**

 **Crocea Mors retracted her sword from Cthulu's corpse and let it fall. Inside, Ruby was beginning to fade.**

" _ **Oxygen levels critical, Left hemisphere. 15% capacity.** **"**_ **Penny told them.**

 **Jaune acted fast, disconnecting his own oxygen tube and connecting it to Ruby.**

" **It's okay, Ruby. We did it." he assured her, though he knew she was unconscious. "I can finish this alone. All I have to do is fall. Anyone can fall." She groaned a little as she was lifted into her escape pod.**

" **Jaune, your oxygen levels are critical." Nora told him over the radio. "You don't have much time. Start the core meltdown and get out of there now!"**

"How is that even possible?" Weiss questioned. "Aren't they basically in another dimension or something?"

"Maybe they have some kind of super radio!" Nora suggested.

"Doubtful, but we'll keep that in mind, Nora." Ren said with a small chuckle.

 **Ruby's escape pod launched out of the back out Mors' head and flew upwards, buoyed up by automatically inflated rafts.**

" **One pod is launched, no detonation yet." Nora reported. Tai slammed his fist in frustration.**

" **Loccent, can you still hear me?" Jaune said over the radio. "I'm initiating reactor override now!" he entered the activation sequence but was met with an error message. Looks like he was gonna have to do this by hand. Jaune immediately disengaged his harness and walked around them to the control panel. Below it sat the manual controls for a core meltdown. He pushed the pillar down and twisted it into position. 'Okay, manual override engaged. Now let's GTFO, shall we?'**

 **He walked back to his harness and engaged his own escape pod. As he was lifted up, he looked out the eyes of his mech one last time and saw that the landscape had changed.**

 **The internal view of a brain was gone, replaced by things I can't really describe. If I had to, I would say this is the kind of thing H.P. Lovecraft would describe in his short stories. It was all so alien, it was hard to really comprehend. What I do know it that just after Jaune's pod ejected, Crocea Mors exploded, turning into a fire ball that engulfed everything around it for miles. Luckily, Jaune's pod made it back up into the Breach mere seconds before the blast hit it. The look in the eyes of those aliens who saw it about to happen could only be described by the phrase 'Oh shi- '.**

" **Direct hit! The Breach has collapsed!" Nora yelled, the control room filling with cheers before Taiyang ordered them to send the Bullheads to retrieve the survivors.**

 **Back on the ocean, Ruby's escape pod breached the surface. She regained consciousness and pulled the internal release switch. The glass canopy shot off behind her, allowing fresh air into the pod. It opened up length-wise, allowing her to sit up and look around.**

" **First pod spotted." Nora reported. "Tracking solid, vitals strong."**

" **Okay, where's the second pod?" Tai asked.**

" **I've got it on tracking, but I'm not picking up any vital signs."**

"Jaune?" Nora said, tears starting to form.

"Probably just a malfunction in the pod." Pyrrha assured her.

'Or I died from lack of oxygen.' Jaune thought to himself.

 **Ruby looked around, seeing only ocean for miles, when she heard the second pod breach the surface behind her. She jumped out of her pod and swam over to the other. She clambered on top and pulled the external release lever. She took off Jaune's helmet and checked for a pulse.**

" **Not getting a pulse." She said, worried. "I don't think he's breathing." She lifted him into a sitting position and hugged him tight, Nora buzzing in her ear, trying to calm her down. She begged for him to live, to not leave her.**

" **You're squeezing me too tight." A voice wheezed in her ear. She released Jaune, who breathed deep, sucking in as much air as he could. "I couldn't breathe." He joked. Despite herself, Ruby laughed at the dork.**

Team JNPR let out a collective sigh of relief at the same time. Noticing this, they looked at each other for a moment before they burst out laughing, having missed this so very much.

 **The control room filled with cheers, sighs of relief from Nora and Tai, and mutual handshake-hug between Oobleck and Watts. Tai approached the intercom, and the room silenced itself immediately.**

" **This is General Taiyang Xiao Long." He said, using his new title. "The Breach is sealed. Stop the Clock!" everyone cheered as they watched the war clocks around the base slowly zero out.**

 **Out on the ocean, Jaune and Ruby sat on his pod, staring into each other's eyes until they heard the Bullheads in the distance.**

" **Jaune, Ruby, we have your location. The Bullheads are on their way." Nora told them.**

 **Wanting a little privacy, they each took out their ear pieces and threw them in the ocean. Afterwards, they simply enjoyed the other's companies. They could have kissed, but didn't.**

"What? That's it?" Yang said. "You're not gonna seal the deal?"

"Are you complaining that Jaune didn't kiss your sister?" Weiss asked.

"Different realities don't count. Besides, we weren't even related in this one."

"He didn't have to anyway." Blake said. Everyone turned to her. "Their minds were linked, so they already know the other's feelings. A kiss would have just been cliché. A good one, admittedly, but still a cliché."

"In any case, I thought it was a great movie." Pyrrha said.

"Second that." Sun said, before an idea came to him. "Hey Logan, any chance I can get that theme music for my scroll?"

" _Done."_

"So, what was the death count on that one? Like, ten major characters?" Roman said.

" _Yeah, about that…"_

 **At the remnants of Otachi's corpse, a knife suddenly burst from the infant's stomach. It cut an opening, and, slowly, Roman forced his way out. He gasped for fresh air before looking about.**

" **Neo! Where's my goddamn hat?!"**

Roman almost fell out of his seat from laughter.

"Well, I gotta use the bathroom and make a run for more snacks. Anybody want anything?" Jaune said. receiving negatives all around, Jaune made his way to the restroom. He made sure no one else was around before walking into a stall and locking the door behind him. He took out his scroll and dialed.

" _Hello?"_

"Hey, Joan. It's me."

" _Jaune? Holy crap, bro. Where've you been? You just up and left one day with your friends. Had us all worried sick."_

"I'm sorry, sis. There was something we had to do. I was going to call you guys sooner, but shit happened."

" _Are you okay?"_

"Yeah." He smiled, relief washing over him. "Yeah, I am."

* * *

 **Hoof! this was a long such of a bitch. Nearly 7.3k words long before notes, making it the longest anything I've ever written here.**

 **Sorry that it feels kind of rushed, but I really wanted to do this next chapter on a specific date. Luckily, it's coming up soon, so you don't have to wait long. What movie will it be? Well, I'll let the release date give you a hint.**

 **Remember to Follow, Favorite and Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 5/4/19**


	25. Chapter 25

**Hey guys, and a Happy Star Wars Day to you all. I was actually a little worried about when I was gonna be able to upload this, due to an unexpected blackout where I live. Thankfully, it only lasted about an hour or so, so no biggie. Now, on with the show!**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 25

" _So, is everyone ready to start the next movie?"_ The Old Wolf's voice asked.

"Let's see," Ruby said, running down a mental check list, "Popcorn?"

"Check." Weiss said, holding a large bucket of popcorn in her lap.

"Soda?"

Yang belched. "Check!"

"Snacks?"

"Check." Blake said over a mouthful of sushi.

"I'd say so." Ruby smiled.

"Hit it!" Yang and Nora said together.

 **The hot desert sun shone over a pair of mighty white pyramids with golden tips. Nearby, a monolithic sphinx was under construction, nearly complete, as well as a bustling city. Off to the side, in the shade, a man rode a chariot past several men armed with shields and spears, each one bowing before him as he approached.**

"Hey, it's home! Maybe I'll actually make an appearance in this one." Sun cheered.

" **Thebes, City of the Living." Blake narrated. "Crown jewel of Pharaoh Seti I. Home of Ozpin, Pharaoh's high priest, keeper of the dead." Ozpin was dressed in black robes that displayed his chest and abs, well-toned for his age. "Birthplace of Salem, Pharaoh's mistress." Salem herself walked into a room with walls made of solid gold. Though, this wasn't the Salem the crew saw back at Haven courtesy of Emerald.**

"SAY WHAT NOW?!" the audience screamed, even Ozcar.

"But- but- "Ruby stammered, looking something, anything to say.

"Mistress?" Cinder whispered. She knew that Salem was old beyond belief, but she never spoke of her past.

'Ah, the memories…' Salem thought, gazing upon how she used to look.

" **No other man was allowed to touch her."**

"But that can't be Salem! Salem doesn't look like that! We saw her!" Ruby protested.

"You saw an accurate illusion of her, Ms. Rose." Ozcar said, trying to explain without giving too much up. "That is how she used to appear."

"Ozpin?" Glynda looked at him questioningly.

"Later," Ozcar tried to deflect, "After the movie, I promise."

"Just a head's up then," Sun said, "You are _not_ gonna like where this is headed."

"What do you- "

"Just watch."

 **Salem walked past statues on either side of her and signaled for a group of men to bar the door. As they moved to obey, she walked through a golden veil. Ozpin awaited her on the other side. They regarded each other before embracing in a passionate kiss.**

" **But for their love, they were willing to risk life itself."**

"See what I mean?" Sun said.

"You alright there, Oz?" Qrow said.

"He, uh, he fainted." Oscar replied.

"Sun do you know this story?" Weiss asked, genuinely interested.

"This bit, yeah. It's an old legend back home in Vacuo, the kind parents use to keep their children in line."

"Well, that's ominous." Coco commented.

 **In their passion, Ozpin accidentally smudged the black paint on one of Salem's arms. As the men were about to close the doors, Seti pushed them back open on his own. He looked at the men, confused.**

" _ **What are you doing here?"**_ **he asked in ancient Vacuoan. He walked past them and found Salem leaning against a sculpture of a cat seductively. Seti wasn't buying it though. He saw the smeared paint on her arm.** _ **"Who has touched you?"**_ **he asked angrily. When he noticed Salem looking at something behind him, he turned, only for Ozpin to draw his sword.** _ **"Ozpin?"**_ **he said, shocked.**

 **Salem stabbed a dagger into his back. As he cried out in pain, Ozpin sank the sword into his stomach. Seti screamed as Ozpin and Salem continued to hack at him. Suddenly, a banging came from the double doors.**

" _ **Pharaoh's bodyguards."**_ **Ozpin said, ready to fight. Salem urged him to save himself, but he would not leave her.**

" _ **Only you can resurrect me."**_ **She said, drawing his attention long enough for her attendants to drag him away as the guards busted the door in. They were male and human for the most part, with the odd Faunus visible among them. They saw Seti dead upon the floor and his likely killer standing before them.**

" _ **My body is no longer his temple."**_ **Salem declared before plunging the dagger into her heart.**

 **A train of chariots were traveling through the desert at night, led by Ozpin.**

" **To resurrect Salem," Blake narrated, "Ozpin and his priests broke into her crypt and stole her body. They raced deep into the desert, taking Salem's corpse to Hamunaptra, City of the Dead, ancient burial site for the sons of pharaohs and resting place for the wealth of Vacuo."**

" **For his love, Ozpin dared the gods' anger by going deep into the city where he took the black** _ **Book of the Dead**_ **from its' holy resting place." Ozpin led a procession of his priests down a long staircase, a gigantic ebon tome in his hands. He and his priests began a ritual, chanting in a circle around Salem's corpse. "Salem's soul had been sent to the dark underworld, her vital organs removed and placed in five sacred canopic jars." As the chanting continued, a pool of water began to ripple until some…thing rose from its' depths and slowly flew over to Salem's corpse. It assimilated with her, and she gasped as she tried to breathe. "Salem's soul had come back from the dead, but Pharaoh's bodyguards had followed Ozpin and stopped him before the ritual could be completed."**

" **Ozpin's priests were condemned to mummified alive. As for Ozpin, he was condemned to face the Hom-Dai, the worst of all ancient curses. One so horrible, it had never before been bestowed."**

The audience cringed as they saw the tortures the priests were condemned to, and Ruby almost puked when she saw Ozpin get his tongue cut out, wrapped in bandages, placed in a sarcophagus, and covered in hundreds of insects.

 **The casket was locked and placed inside another, larger casket which was locked again.**

" **He was to remain sealed inside his sarcophagus, be undead for all of eternity. The Medjai would never allow him to be released, for he would arise a walking disease, a plague upon mankind, an unholy flesh-eater with the strength of ages and power of the sands, and the glory of invincibility."**

 **The camera panned up a statue of a man with the head of a dog made of onyx.**

 **THE MUMMY**

"So yeah, that's the long and short of the story." Sun said.

"Boy meets girl, the two fall in love, one sacrifices themselves for them other, both are doomed for eternity." Blake said. "Why does that sound familiar?"

 **Sand passed in front of the statue, and the stone slowly turned from a smooth, midnight black to a rough, dull stone grey. Men in military uniforms ran past it.**

 **HAMUNAPTRA, 1923**

" **For 3000 years, men and armies fought over this land, never knowing what evil lay beneath it."**

 **The military men took covered firing positions in a line outside the ruins of Hamunaptra, as a horde of desert-dwellers on horseback charged them, screaming and yelling.**

" **And for 3000 years, we, the Medjai, the descendants of Pharaoh's sacred bodyguards, kept watch." Blake, along with several other Faunus, watched from atop a cliff overlooking the battle.**

"Oh, so I'm not just a narrator here? That's cool." Blake commented.

 **A man on horseback, likely the commander, slapped his horses' flank with the flat of his sword and took off back into the ruins. The only ones to see this were a man with unkempt blonde hair, and another with silver hair.**

 **Mercury looked to Jaune. "You just got promoted." He said.**

" **At the ready!" Jaune yelled as he and Mercury took aim.**

"Are we friends of something here?" Jaune asked.

"I guess." Mercury assumed. "Eh, I'm just glad I'm in another movie."

"Speaking of, anyone notice that I've been a central figure in every movie we've seen so far?"

" _The reason for that Mr. Arc is that you are something of an Everyman. You as a person can fill a far wider variety of roles than most of the people in this theater. I assure you, however, this is the last one for some time."_

 **The horsemen continued their charge.**

" **Steady!" he yelled out. "You're with me on this, right?" he asked Mercury**

" **Oh, your strength gives me strength." Mercury said as he moved a step back.**

 **As the horsemen got closer, Mercury thought better of this particular life choice. He threw down his gun and ran back to the ruins. "Fuck this! Hey, wait up!" he yelled.**

"Coward!" Pyrrha yelled out.

"Screw you Magnet-girl! I choose life!" Mercury shot back.

" **Fire!" Jaune ordered when the horsemen got close enough. Unfortunately, his men were only able to fire a few times before he ordered a retreat, doing little damage overall. The horsemen overwhelmed their position, but Jaune kept firing. When his rifle was no longer an option, he dropped it and drew a pair of revolvers. When those were empty, he dropped them too and drew a pair of pistols hidden in the small of his back.**

 **Eventually, he too ran back into the ruins. He saw Mercury ahead of him, near the entrance to a tomb.**

" **Run, Merc, run!" he yelled. Mercury ran into the tomb and began to close the door. "Hey! Don't you close that door! Don't you close that door!" He failed to make it before Mercury sealed it shut.**

"What an asshole." Jaune commented.

"At least you didn't have to share a room with him." Emerald said.

"Truly, you ladies were the ones who really suffered." Roman said to Neo, earning a giggle from the ice cream enthusiast.

 **He ran through the ruins; the horsemen close on his heels. Ultimately, they cornered him in front of the statue of the dog-man. He closed his eyes tight and waited for death, but it never came. For some reason, the horses panicked and immediately ran off despite the protests of their masters. Jaune opened his eyes, unable to completely process his good fortune.**

 **Suddenly, the sand beneath began to move violently. He managed to get away and ran as the sands formed into the shape of a roaring man's face.**

"Okay, that's creepy." Yang said.

"You're telling me." Ruby shivered.

"I can do one better." Summer said to Kali.

"What's that?" Kali asked.

"Did your daughter ever do that while you and your husband were having some fun in bed during her pregnancy?" Kali and Ghira burst out laughing at the thought of it.

 **Blake and her troupe watched from the cliffs as the horsemen quit the field, leaving the entire army of soldiers dead but for two.**

" _ **The Creature remains undiscovered."**_ **She said. One of her men noticed Jaune running off into the desert.**

" _ **And what of this one?"**_ **he asked. Jaune stopped and looked back, seeing them staring at him.** _ **"Should we kill him?"**_

" _ **No. The desert will kill him."**_ **And with that, she led her men away from the carnage.**

 **The scene changed to a thriving city, the pyramids from the beginning visible in the distance.**

 **KINGDOM OF VACUO, 3 YEARS LATER**

 **Several horse-drawn carriages passed by the Vacuo Museum of Antiquities. Inside the library, a familiar young lady was talking to herself as she worked.**

" **Sacred stones, sculpture and aesthetics, Socrates, Seth, volume one, volume two, and volume three..." Velvet was wearing a long skirt, a white blouse, glasses, and her long brown hair was done up in a bun. "And… Tuthmosis?" she chuckled, "What are you doing here?" she looked around herself until she found the 'Tu' section right across from her current stack.**

"Oh, this is gonna be good, I can tell already." Coco said, putting her hands behind her head and kicking her feet up.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Velvet said indignantly. Coco just pulled her glasses down with a finger and cocked an eyebrow at her.

 **Instead of climbing down the ladder and re-positioning it like any sane person would, Velvet simply held the book out and leaned as far as she could, still at the top of the ladder. The result was predictable. She stretched too far and took the ladder with her, standing it up perfectly straight. She scanned the room, desperately looking for help. There was none.**

 **Eventually, she lost her balance and fell on the stack she had been working on, causing it to fall over. It was dominos after that. The stack fell over, causing the next to fall over, and so on and on, until every stack in the library fell over in a giant oval, with Velvet at the center.**

" **Oops…" she said meekly.**

"Called it." Coco said, while Velvet used her ears to cover the blush on her face.

" **What the…" Ilia said when she came into the library, "How even…" she saw Velvet standing in the center of it all and everything fell into place. "Look at this!" she said as she marched over to Velvet. "Give me frogs! Flies! Locusts! Anything but you! Compared to you, the other plagues were a joy!"**

" **I'm sorry, ma'am. It was an accident."**

" **My girl," Ilia said softly, "When Ramses destroyed Syria, that was an accident. You, are a CATASTROPHE! Look at this place! Why do I put up with you?"**

 **Velvet saw an opportunity to redeem herself. "Well, you put up with me because I- I can read and write ancient Vacuoan, and, um, I can… I can decipher hieroglyphics and hieratic, and," she grew a little bit confidant and angry at the same time, "and because I am the only person within a thousand miles who can properly code and categorize this library. That's why you put up with me!" she pouted a little bit.**

" **No, I put up with you because your mother and father were our finest patrons! Gods rest their souls." Ilia sighed and looked Velvet square in the eye. "Now, I don't care how you do it, I don't care how long it takes, just clear up this mess!"**

"And how is she supposed to do that?" Yang said. "I mean, it's not like she's me or Nora."

"Actually, Velvet is stronger than she looks." Coco said. "After all, she is a year ahead of you guys, and works out regularly."

"Hell yeah! Buff Buddies for life!" Velvet high-fived her partner.

 **Velvet was about to set to work, when she heard a clattering coming from behind her in the display hall. It was a large, high-ceilinged room filled with artifacts- statues and paintings mostly.**

" **Hello?" she asked. When nobody answered, she grabbed a torch and began to walk deeper in. "Sun? Coco? Bob?" She started when she heard a thud from behind her. It was coming from the bottom half of a sarcophagus. She approached slowly, trying to keep her footsteps as quiet as possible.**

 **Suddenly, the coffin's occupant sat up and she screamed in fright. The screaming was followed by male laughter as Neptune sat up in the coffin.**

" **Have you no respect for the dead?" she asked him angrily.**

" **Of course, I do. But sometimes," he put the skeleton's arm on the rim of the sarcophagus. "I'd really like to join them."**

"Looks like its my turn." Neptune grinned.

"Hopefully with more to come." Sun teased, giving his friend a nooggie.

" **Well, I wish you would do it sooner rather than later before you ruin my career like you did yours." She put the skeleton back in its resting place. "Now, get out!" She gave him a light slap on the cheek.**

" **My dearest unofficial baby sister, I'll have you know," he stumbled as he clambered out of the coffin. "That at this precise moment, my career is on a high note."**

" **Come on, Nep, please, I'm really not in the mood for you right now. I've just made a bit of a huge mess in the library," she amended when Neptune gave her a funny look, "and the Bembridge scholars have rejected my application again." She sat down at the feet of a nearby statue. "They claim I don't have enough experience in the field."**

" **Hey," Neptune said, taking her hands and giving her a soft smile, "We still have each other. Always will." She smiled at that.**

"That… was actually kind of heartwarming…" Coco said a little surprised.

"Nep may look like a playboy, and act like one at times, but the guy is so loyal I could swear he's part dog Faunus." Sun defended.

 **She and Neptune went way back. They met as kids at a Vacuoan middle school. Neptune stood up to a pack of bullies on her behalf and kind of made it known to the rest of the school that she was under his protection. Somewhere along the line, they became like brother and sister.**

" **Besides," he said, digging through his pockets, "I have just the thing to cheer you up."**

" **Ah, come on, Nep, not another worthless trinket. If I have to take another useless piece of junk up to Ilia and try to- "she stopped when he showed her a small, grey, octagonal puzzle box. She took from his hand as he sat down next to her. "Where did you get this?" she asked, captivated. This was most definitively** _ **not**_ **junk.**

"Does that thing look familiar to anyone?" Ilia asked.

"Yeah, didn't they use something similar when they were mummifying Ozpin?" Yang said.

Hearing this, Blake made a mental note for her story analysis.

" **On a dig, down in Thebes." Neptune said. Velvet heard the lie in his voice. He couldn't hide anything from her ears. She ignored it though as she continued to examine the box. "My whole life, I've never found anything, Velvs.** _ **Please,**_ **tell me I've found something."**

 **Velvet twisted the base of the box and it popped open, revealing a small, folded piece of papyrus.**

" **Neptune, I think you've finally found something."**

"Oh man, red flags everywhere people."

* * *

 **HA! You all thought it was gonna be Star Wars!**

 **While I admit that today would be the day to do it, The Mummy is actually even more appropriate, considering that it came out in theaters 20 years ago today! As one reviewer put it, 'Star Wars Day happens every year, a 20th anniversary only happens once.' So, for the next few weeks, we will be delving into one of the best movies of my childhood.**

 **And after reviewing that statement, I now feel old.**

 **Ah well. Be sure to Follow, Favorite, and Review, and May the Fourth be with you.**

 **Next Update: 5/7/19**


	26. Chapter 26- The Mummy, Part 2

**Hey kids! Back to the usual schedule, so let's get to it.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 26

 **Velvet took the map to Ilia immediately after performing a few tests on it. She opened it up to see the simplistic, yet stylistic designs ancient Vacuo was famed for.**

" **You see the cartouche there?" Velvet asked her, excitedly, "It's the official royal seal of Seti I, I'm sure of it."**

" **Perhaps…" Ilia said as she examined the map.**

"Doubting much, Ilia?" Sun teased.

"Well, this me seems to be much older, so I think it's logical for me to be skeptical of a much younger scholar." Ilia defended.

"Huh, now that I get a second look," Yang said, squinting at the screen, "I do notice some facial wrinkles and streaks of grey in your hair… "

"I would say you've aged rather well." Glynda complimented.

" **Two questions." Neptune interjected. "Who was Seti I and was he rich?"**

" **The second pharaoh of the 19** **th** **dynasty, said to be the wealthiest pharaoh of them all." Velvet explained, indulging her simplistic friend.**

" **Good. That's good. I like this fellow. I like him very much."**

" **I've already dated the map. It's almost 3000 years old. And if you look at the hieratic right here," she pointed to a corner of the map. "Well… it's Hamunaptra." That caught everyone's attention.**

" **Dear Gods, don't be ridiculous." Ilia scoffed. "We're scholars here, not treasure hunters. Hamunaptra's a myth told by ancient storytellers to amuse superstitious tourists, old and new."**

"True. They told that story all the time back home." Sun said with a nod.

" **Yes, yes, I know all the rumors and tall tales about the city being protected by a mummy monster and all that, but my research has led me to believe that the city itself may have actually existed."**

" **Wait a sec," Neptune said, looking up from the map, "Are we talking about** _ **the**_ **Hamunaptra here?"**

" **Yes, 'the City of the Dead', where the earliest pharaohs were said to have hidden the wealth of Vacuo."**

" **Yeah, yeah, in a big underground chamber." Neptune said, recalling what he could of the legend. Ilia scoffed at him and shook her head. "Oh, come on. Everyone knows the story. The entire necropolis was rigged to sink at Pharaoh's command. Just a flick of a switch, and the whole city would disappear under the sands, taking the treasure with it."**

" **As the Valeans would say, it's all fairy tales and hokum." Ilia said as she held the map before her lamp as she examined it. Unfortunately, she held it too close and it caught fire. She cried out as she threw it to the floor in alarm. Neptune and Velvet scrambled to put it out, but by the time they did, the most important part had been lost.**

" **God dammit! You burnt off the part with the lost city!" Neptune said in dismay.**

"Well that's convenient." Weiss said, rolling her eyes.

"Totally on accident, of course." Yang deadpanned.

" **It's for the best, I'm sure." Ilia said, sitting at her desk. "Many men have wasted their lives in the pursuit of Hamunaptra. No one's ever found it. Most, have never returned."**

" **Come, come, step over the threshold." Arthur Watts told them. This wasn't the Watts they knew though. he was grossly over-weight, and his mustache was swapped for a unibrow and a pencil-thin goatee. "Welcome to Vacuo Prison, my humble home!"**

"Woah! Okay, not a good transition." Emerald said, shielding her eyes while Cinder chuckled at this version of Watts.

 **Everywhere men in uniform watched over prisoners as they worked in the yard. Velvet punched Neptune in the arm.**

" **You told me you got it on a dig down in Thebes." She said, her ears displaying her indignance.**

" **Yes, well I was mistaken, wasn't I?" Neptune said, rubbing his arm where she had hit him.**

" **You lied to me!"**

" **I lie to everyone. What makes you so special?"**

" **I'm your sister, you ass."**

" **Well, then that just makes you more gullible, doesn't it?" That earned him yet another punch.**

"They may not be blood, but they're siblings alright." Yang said.

"Yyyup." Ruby agreed.

"Hey, siblings don't fight all the time!" Weiss chimed in, "Just look at Winter and I."

"And by complete contrast, you and Whitley." "Winter said, sticking her tongue out at her sister when she glared at her.

" **Neptune, you stole it from a drunk in the local bar!**

" **Picked his pocket, actually, so I don't think it's a very good idea to- "he tried to walk away, but Velvet pulled him back in line beside her.**

" **Man up and face it, Nep." She turned to Watts and asked, "What is this man in prison for?"**

" **Well, this I did not know." He admitted. He even sounded different, less pompous and condescending, and more jovial, like a grandfather. "But when you said you wished to speak to him, I asked him myself. He said, 'he was just looking for a good time'."**

 **On cue, the door to the meeting cell burst open and a man with messy, shoulder-length blonde hair and the beginnings of a beard was pulled out in chains by a pair of prison guards. They slammed him up against the bars and forced him to his knees.**

"Jaune?" Team JNPR exclaimed.

"Why do I always have only the beginnings of a beard in these things and never a full one?" Jaune said, rubbing his chin.

"Really?" Yang said. "You find yourself in prison on unknown charges, and _that's_ the first thing that comes to your mind?"

" **This is the man you stole it from?" Velvet asked, a little impressed at her brother's guts.**

" **Yes, exactly." He said, turning his face away, "Now why don't we go find ourselves some lunch and- "**

" **Who are you?" Jaune asked. "And who's the broad?"**

" **Broad?" Velvet was a little offended at the word.**

" **Well, see, I'm sort of a missionary-type, here to spread the good word and all that." Neptune said, cutting Velvet off before she could lay into the man, "And this is my sister, Velvet."**

" **How do you do?" Velvet said warily.**

" **Oh, well, guess she's not a total loss." Jaune replied.**

" **I beg your pardon?" she said indignantly.**

"Wow, savage Jaune is savage." Yang chuckled.

"At least you have jokes in this one." Pyrrha added.

"Are you saying I don't have jokes normally?" Jaune asked, chuckling when she floundered.

 **This time Watts cut her off, yelling something across the yard before excusing himself to deal with it.**

" **Ask him about the box." Neptune hissed in her ear.**

" **Right, um, we found- um, excuse me." Jaune had looked away when Watts had left and was staring at him in contempt. "Yes, we, uh, we found your puzzle box, and we've come ask you about it."**

" **No." Jaune said, the pieces coming together in his head.**

" **No?" Velvet was confused.**

" **No. you've come to ask me about Hamunaptra."**

 **Velvet was stunned while Neptune indicated to him to keep the talk quiet. "How do you know that the box pertains to Hamunaptra?"**

" **Because that's where I was when I found it. I was there." He explained.**

 **Neptune looked skeptical and approached the cell. "Well, how do we know that's not a pile of bull shit?"**

 **Jaune clicked his tongue. "You seem familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?"**

" **No, no, no." Neptune said, trying to deflect, "I've just got one of those faces- "Recognition dawned on Jaune and he punched Neptune square in the jaw. The guards saw this and one of them hit him in the back with their club. His face screwed up in agony, but he rode it out without so much as a groan.**

"Oof. I felt that." Neptune said, rubbing his nose.

"Me too." Jaune said, rolling his shoulders.

 **Velvet ignored the violence and confidently approached the cell. "You were actually at Hamunaptra?" her eyes were practically sparkling in curiosity.**

" **Yeah, I was there." He said with a roguish grin.**

" **You swear?"**

" **Every damn day." He smiled.**

" **No, I-I didn't mean like that- "**

" **Yeah, I know what you meant. I was there. Seti's place. 'City of the Dead'."**

" **Could you tell me how to get there?" she asked eagerly. Jaune looked at her with surprise. This was new. "I mean, the exact location?"**

" **You want to know?"**

" **Well, yes."**

" **You really want to know?"**

" **Yes!"**

 **He beckoned her closer and suddenly reached out, grabbed her chin and pulled her into a kiss. When he pulled off, he said, "Then get me the hell out of here!"**

"Wow, the pair on this one…" Coco said, sliding her glasses down her nose to get a better look.

"Ooh, ooh!" Nora said, bouncing in her seat, "They're the couple of the movie! I'm calling it!"

"Oh, great." Ren groaned, "The return of shipping Nora."

"I shall call them… Bunny Knight!" At the name Jaune hung his head while Ruby burst out laughing.

"I almost forgot the bunny!" Ruby yelled past her laughter.

"Do we even _want_ to know?" Weiss asked of Jaune.

"For the sake of my minimal masculinity, I'd really rather you didn't."

 **The guards began to beat him again, but this time he fought back, if briefly. "Do it, lady!" he yelled as the guards dragged him back into the prison.**

" **Where are they taking him?" she asked Watts.**

" **To be hanged." Watts explained. "Apparently, he had a** _ **very**_ **good time."**

 **Prisoners gathered in droves around the execution grounds and cheered as Jaune ascended the steps of the gallows. Watts sat in a viewing gallery alongside Velvet, observing the proceedings.**

" **I will give you 100 lien to spare this man's life." Velvet said desperately.**

" **Madame, I would** _ **pay**_ **100 lien just to see him hang." Watts replied.**

" **Two! 200 lien!"**

" **Proceed."**

" **300 lien!"**

 **Down below, the hangman placed the noose around Jaune's neck and tightened it.**

" **Any last requests, pig?" he asked maliciously.**

" **Yeah, loosen the knot and let me go." He said sarcastically. The hangman was confused by the request and relayed it to Watts.**

" **What are you, an idiot? Of course, we're not going to let him go!" Watts yelled down. The hangman slapped Jaune upside the head for making him look the fool.**

" **500 lien!" Velvet offered.**

 **Watts ordered a halt and turned to her. "And what else?" he placed his hand on her leg. "I'm a very lonely man."**

"Pig." Coco, Velvet and Emerald said simultaneously.

 **She slapped his hand with her book, and he pulled away. Prisoners all around the yard laughed at him. He ordered for the execution to proceed.**

" **NO!" Velvet cried uselessly. The floor beneath Jaune gave out and he fell. The rope pulled taut and he began to swing. He grunted as he tried to breathe.**

"This is not going to be pretty." Velvet said. She took extra elective history classes with Oobleck, so she knew roughly what hanging as a form of execution entailed. At best, the victim would break their neck in the drop, but if that failed, they would die from strangulation which was an even worse fate.

 **Watts laughed in triumph. "Ha ha! His neck did not break! I'm so sorry miss. Now, we must watch him strangle to death."**

 **Seeing her only guide dying before her, Velvet knew she had no choice. She played her trump card. "He knows the location to Hamunaptra!"**

 **He rounded on her in disbelief. "You lie!"**

" **I would never!"**

" **Are you telling me that this filthy, god-less son of a pig knows where to find the City of the Dead?"**

" **Yes."**

" **Truly?"**

" **Yes! And if you set him free, we'll give you… 10% of the treasure."**

" **50%." He fired back.**

"Ooh, that's a mistake." Coco said. "Here's a pro-tip I learned the hard way, kids; never, ever gamble or haggle with a rabbit Faunus." She said the last with a glare at Velvet, who was whistling innocently.

" **20." She offered.**

" **40."**

" **30."**

" **25."**

" **Ah!" she caught him. "Deal."**

 **He cursed himself for not keeping track. "Cut him down!" The guard that had led Jaune up the stairs cut the rope he hung from with a sword. When Jaune hit the dirt, the prisoners burst into cheers for one of their own. Jaune looked up and saw Velvet looking down on him triumphantly. The message was clear.**

 **I did my bit. Time for you to do yours.**

 **A few days later, a large white riverboat sat docked in Vacuo's Port District. It was still undergoing the loading process as Velvet and Neptune walked up, luggage in tow.**

" **Do you really think he's going to show up?" Velvet asked her brother.**

" **Knowing my luck, without a doubt." He answered.**

" **But how can you be so sure?"**

" **Velvs, trust me, I've seen the type a thousand times. He may be a cowboy, but his word is his bond."**

" **Well, personally, I think he's filthy, rude, a complete scoundrel. I don't like him one bit."**

" **Anyone I know?" came a voice from behind. The siblings turned to see Jaune coming up behind them. His hair had been cut, his beard shaven off, and he was dressed in a white dress shirt, a tan coat and pants, brown boots and a leather rucksack over one shoulder. Neptune nodded a greeting, while Velvet stood staring with her mouth open.**

"And _that_ ," Winter said with a little pride, "Is what the military can do for just about anyone if they put the effort into it."

"Uh, Pyrrha, you're drooling a little bit there." Nora teased her battle-sister.

"You do seem to have a habit of cleaning up very nicely, Jaune." Ren observed.

"Eh, I try."

" **Oh, uh, hello." Velvet said when she finally recovered. "How much of that did you hear?"**

" **Enough." He said with a grin.**

" **Good day to start an adventure, am I right Arc?" Neptune said, offering Jaune his hand.**

" **Yeah. Yeah, real great." He said with sarcasm, politely shaking the man's hand. "Oh, before I forget, no hard feelings about the, uh…" he indicated his nose.**

" **Bah, all's forgiven. Happens all the time."**

" **He's not joking about that." Velvet interjected, rolling her eyes. "But, Mr. Arc, can you look me in the eye and guarantee me this isn't all some kind of a… flimflam?"**

" **Okay, first off, 'flimflam'? Second, let me tell you something, lady, my whole damned garrison believed in this so much, that without orders we marched from our post on the other side of the continent to find that city. And when we did, all we found was sand and blood." He let his words hang in the air before speaking again. "Let me get your bags for ya."**

"Unfortunately, one of the downsides of the military is that some things can't be unseen." Winter admitted.

 **Velvet stared after him as he walked up the gang plank. Neptune saw the look on her face and grinned.**

" **Yes, yes, you're right. Filthy, rude, a complete scoundrel. Nothing to like there at all." He teased.**

" **Oh, shut it, you." She shot back.**

" **A bright good morning to all." Watts said as he came up next to them, thankfully in a fresh set of clothes.**

" **Oh, what are you doing here?" Velvet whined.**

" **I'm here to protect my investment. Thank you very much." He said as he made his way on board.**

" **This is gonna be a looong trip, isn't it?" Neptune asked.**

" **Yyyep." Velvet responded with a pop.**

* * *

 **This one definitely feels a little light on the audience reactions, and I don't really have an excuse. Only apologies.**

 **Also, an announcement for the Jurassic Park fans. I know I said that Jurassic World would be next, but I've had some second thoughts about it. I'll still be doing it, and Fallen Kingdom as well, but first I think I'll do the other two as well. While I usually consider these two as the worst of the five- with the Lost World placing above 3- I still think they might be, if nothing else, fun to write. So, after the Mummy- and yes I will be doing the sequel at some point down the road, but not the third- expect The Lost World as the next title. That's right, more Dr. Nora goodness is on the way, hopefully without breaking any legs. Hopefully.**

 **Don't forget to Follow, Favorite, and Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 5/14/19**


	27. Chapter 27- The Mummy, Part 3

**Hey guys! Back to the usual schedule.**

 **So, for anyone who watches Game of Thrones, I just can't with Sunday's episode. Like, I'm glad that the scumbags got what they deserved, and have been firmly on Team Dany for a while, but last episode was a total slap in the face. Dany had the win wrapped up in nice little bow, with the only damage done to the city being to its' defenses, which can be re-built no problem. But she just has to have an emotional meltdown right as victory is being handed to her. Like, I knew folks were gonna die after what happened, but that was just a slap in the face. At least The Hound got a good send-off.**

 **Alright, enough rambling. Let's do this.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 27

 **The shattered moon shone as full as it could over the nearly-cloudless night. The riverboat was moving steadily along downriver, but unbeknownst to anyone, a group of Faunus in all black were paddling up alongside it in a pair of rowboats. One of the men, who had lost a hand some time ago, affixed a hook to his wrist and began sharpening it.**

 **Neptune was sitting at a card table with three very familiar and unpopular men.**

"Oh, come on, what are they doing there?" Nora asked.

"Just be glad they aren't here." Coco said.

"Think it's the White Fang in those boats?" Sun whispered to Ilia just loud enough that Blake could keep up with the conversation.

"Doubtful." Ilia said with a shake of her head. "Unless there's a shipment of SDC Dust on that boat. The White Fang may have gone after civilian targets, but it was limited to known racists or those with strong ties to the SDC."

" **Stop messing with yer glasses and cut the damn cards, Sky." Dove Bronzewing said.**

" **Well, without my glasses, I can't see the deck to cut it, can I Dove?" Sky Lark quipped.**

" **Ah, Jaune, take a seat." Neptune said when he saw the blonde walk onto the deck. "We could use another player."**

" **I only gamble with my life, never my money." Jaune declined.**

" **Never?" Dove said as he dealt the players their hands. "What if I was to bet you 500 lien, says we get to Hamunaptra before you?"**

 **Jaune stiffened when he heard this. "You're looking for Hamunaptra?"**

" **Damn straight we are." Cardin Winchester responded.**

" **And who says we are?"**

" **Him." Team C_DL said in unison, pointing at Neptune. He tried to look innocent when Jaune glared at him.**

"Nep, buddy, seriously." Sun said through a facepalm.

"Oh, like you're any better."

"Well at least I don't go running to Scarlet with every piece of gossip I hear."

"What about Blake? I kept her secret."

"… Okay, fine I'll give you that one, but still!"

" **Well, how 'bout it? Is it a bet?" Dove asked.**

 **Jaune grinned. "Alright, you're on."**

" **And what makes you so confident, if I may ask?" Dr. Oobleck asked. He was sitting nearby, reading a large book and smoking a hookah.**

" **What makes you?" he asked back.**

" **Well, we got us a man who's actually been there." Cardin answered.**

" **Oh, what a coincidence, cuz Jaune here- "Neptune said before Jaune hit him with his rucksack as he slung it over one shoulder. He took the hint. "Right, so is it my play? Whose move is it?"**

"'Bout as subtle as a boot to the head, aren't you?" Coco chuckled.

"Nep deserved it." Sun defended his fellow blonde. "He's always had a problem knowing when to keep his mouth shut."

"Hey!"

" **Gents, we got ourselves a wager." Jaune said, putting his free hand on Neptune's shoulder and squeezed hard. "G' Night all."**

 **One of the rowboats pulled up along the boat on the same side where Velvet just so happened to be reading by herself at a table. Jaune threw his rucksack on the table with a thud, scaring her.**

" **Sorry." He said genuinely. "Didn't mean to scare you."**

" **Mr. Arc, the only thing about you that scares me are your manners." She said sharply.**

 **He inhaled sharply. "Still angry about that kiss, eh?"**

" **If you call** _ **that**_ **a kiss." She grinned.**

"Ooh, catty." Coco purred.

"I learned from the best." Velvet said.

 **He chuckled.** _ **At least she has a sense of humor.**_ **He opened his rucksack to reveal it full of guns and knives of all sorts.**

"Think he's got enough firepower there, Rubes?" Yang said.

"THERE IS ALWAYS ROOM FOR MORE DAKKA!" Ruby loudly proclaimed. Weiss, Blake and Tai facepalmed, all of them being thoroughly over Yang winding her sister up so.

"Should I be worried about her?" Summer asked Qrow, who shrugged.

" **Um, did I miss something?" Velvet asked, confused, "Are we going into battle?"**

" **Lady, there's something out there." Jaune said, inspecting one of his revolvers. "Something underneath that sand." He put the revolver into one of his holsters.**

" **Yes, well, I'm hoping to find a certain artifact. A book, actually. My bother thinks there's treasure. What do you think's out there?" she asked, pulling a knife out and inspecting it.**

" **In a word? Evil. The Bedouins and Tuaregs believe that Hamunaptra is cursed." He took the knife from her, put it back and began cleaning a shotgun.**

" **Well, I'm afraid I don't believe in fairy tales and hokum, Mr. Arc, but I do believe one of the most famous books in history is buried out there. The** _ **Book of Light**_ **. It contains within it all the secret incantations of the old kingdom." She was smiling ear to ear just talking about it. "It's what first interested me in Vacuo when I was a child. It's why I came here. Sort of a life's pursuit."**

" **And the fact that they say that it's made out of solid gold makes no difference to you, right?"**

" **You know your history!" Velvet said happily.**

" **I know my treasure." Jaune corrected. He finished up with the shotgun and moved on to a semi-auto handgun.**

 **Velvet fidgeted nervously, her ears dropping a little behind her head. "Um, by the way, why did you kiss me?"**

 **Jaune laughed at the memory. "I was about to die. Seemed like a good idea at the time." Velvet stood up and walked away indignantly. Jaune turned around, gun in one hand, magazine in the other. "What?"**

"Well, this one is apparently as dense as I am." Jaune joked at his own expense.

"Jaune, that is not just you. That is every man in existence." Yang said.

"Regardless of race." Blake added with a backward glance at Adam.

 **He heard a sound off to the side. Calmly, he inserted the magazine and chambered a round before walking over and discovering the source; a young-looking man with silver hair. Jaune grabbed him by the back of the neck and pinned him against the luggage.**

" **What a surprise! My old friend, you're alive! I was so worried!"**

" **Well if it ain't my little buddy Mercury? I think I'll kill you." He aimed the gun at Mercury's chest.**

"Hey, hey, jumping the gun a little bit, aren't we?" Mercury said.

"You left him to die in the desert, Black." Pyrrha said hostilely.

"She has a point, Merc," Emerald said, surprising Team CRM_N, "Even for you, that's low."

" **Woah, woah, think of my kids!" he protested.**

" **You don't have any kids." Jaune said, not buying his crap.**

" **Someday I might."**

"In his dreams." Emerald whispered to Cinder, earning her a small smile.

" **Shut up!" he shoved him back. "So, you're the one leading the Valeans. I might have known. So what's the scam, Merc? You take them out into the middle of the desert, and you leave them to rot?"**

" **Unfortunately, no." Mercury said, truthfully. "They may not look it, but these guys are smart. They only gave me half. I get the rest when I get them back to Vacuo. Looks like I gotta go round trip this time."**

" **Thems the breaks, huh?" Jaune let him go and holstered his pistol on his hip.**

" **Why do you even care, Arc? You never believed in Hamunaptra. Why're you going back?"**

 **Jaune looked over at Velvet, who was petting one of the camels. It seemed to like it, with how it was groaning. "You see that girl? She saved my neck."**

 **Mercury looked Velvet up and down and grinned. "You always did have more balls than brains." He said with a laugh. Jaune laughed with him for a little before grabbing him again.**

" **Good bye Merc." Jaune said before throwing the man overboard with a splash.**

"Serves you right, asshole!" Pyrrha said, making the Beacon group chuckle.

 **He turned back to his rucksack and started rolling it back up when he noticed foot prints on the floor. Wet ones. He checked over the side. Mercury was still in the drink, so who…**

 **In her stateroom, Velvet was in a nightgown, going over notes about the Bembridge scholars. However, she seemed distracted. She couldn't quite finish her sentences, and she seemed to be somewhere else mentally.**

" **Oh, for heaven's sake, girl, it wasn't that good a kiss anyway!" she said to herself with a huff.**

"Ha! Classic Velvet." Coco said.

"Oh, please. You love me and you know it." Velvet said, giving her partner a peck on the cheek.

"Hey, hey, save it for later."

 **She set her book on her sink as she began to brush her hair. The book fell and she picked it up with an exasperated sigh. When she stood back up, she saw the man with the hook in her mirror. She gasped and would have screamed if it hadn't died in her throat when the man grabbed her by the neck, pinned her against the wall and put his hook against her face.**

"Okay, now I'm pissed." Coco growled.

"Red flag!" Yang joked.

"Where's the rape mace when you really need it?" Nora joked.

"Does she even need that?" Sun asked Ren.

"No. No she does not."

" **Where is the map?" he asked. She could feel how sharp the blade was.**

" **T-there!" she pointed to the table in the middle of the room.**

" **Good. Now, where is the key?"**

" **The-the-the key? What key?" she asked. He pressed harder, a thin line of blood falling down her cheek.**

" **Velvet!" Jaune yelled before he kicked in the door, a revolver in each hand. He aimed at the Hook Man, who used Velvet as a human- Faunus- whatever, a shield. Another man burst open the room's window. Jaune gunned him down before he could react, filling the wall with holes and accidentally knocking off the oil lamp. It fell onto the couch, setting it on fire.**

 **Her captor distracted, Velvet grabbed the candle that was resting on the map and drove it into the eye of her captor, who cried out in agony.**

"Good Gods, babe, that was brutal!" Coco cringed. Maybe she should ease up on Velvet's self-defense classes a bit.

 **She took cover behind Jaune as he led her out, gunning down another man in black who took the place of his comrade in the window. She ran down the hallway before turning back around.**

" **The map! I forgot the map!" she yelled, running back to her room.**

 **Jaune caught her by the arm and pulling back beside him. "Relax. I'm the map. It's all up here." He pointed to his head.**

" **That's comforting." Velvet said sarcastically.**

"Actually, I get where she's coming from." Taiyang said, Winter and Summer nodding in agreement. "Trusting him with directions is like trusting Qrow with directions."

"Hey, I'm not that bad." All the adults who knew him gave him deadpan looks and he conceded, grumbling and pouting.

"Did she forget that she also forgot to grab the little box-key-thing?" Weiss asked aloud.

 **The Hook Man walked around the room, clutching his wounded eye, when he spotted the small puzzle box on the floor.**

" **The key." He said. He moved to retrieve it.**

" **Velvs!" Neptune said as he ran into the room. Upon entry, he accidentally knocked the Hook Man into the couch, setting him on fire. Neptune went for the puzzle box, but the Hook Man got there first. He chased Neptune out of the room and down the hall, burning bright and swinging his hook wildly.**

 **The deck of the ship was in a panic. The men in black had set fire to it. Men were trying to evacuate the horses, while others were trying to abandon ship. Jaune led Velvet onto the deck giving her his rucksack. He leaned against a wall as he reloaded a revolver, taking cover from an assailant with a rifle. As he reloaded, bullet holes began popping up on the wall next to him. They slowly creeped toward his head and would have killed him if Velvet didn't pull him out of the way. Silently thanking her, he grabbed the other revolver and began laying down suppressive fire as they moved to the other side of the ship.**

" **Can you swim?" he yelled over the din when they reached the other side of the ship.**

" **Well, of course I can swim, if the occasion calls for it!" Velvet yelled back.**

" **Trust me." He said, picking her up bridal style. "It calls for it." He tossed over the side with a scream. He moved to follow her, but was tackled by another man in black.**

"Thanks for the save, by the way." Jaune said to Velvet.

"No prob. Bunny Knight needs to stick together, right?"

"That's never going away, is it?" Jaune sighed, laying his head in his hands.

"Nope." Ruby chuckled.

 **The man landed four solid shots to Jaune's face, then kicked him into a pole. He punched him again before choking him. Suddenly, Jaune bent his arms, loosening his grip on his neck, then headbutted his attacker and witched places with him. Jaune ducked another punch and landed a quick series of blows to the gut, spinning the man around. He kicked the man's rear and sent him through a door which burst into a gout of fire.**

"Damn, Vomit Boy, you're a pretty good brawler." Yang said, impressed.

"Heh, maybe I took lessons from you instead of Pyrrha here." Jaune replied, before turning to Pyrrha and whispering in her ear, "You're my favorite."

"Good answer." Pyrrha whispered back with a peck on the cheek.

 **Jaune picked up his rucksack and slung it across his back as Watts ran up.**

" **Arc! Arc! What do we do? What are we going to do?"**

" **Stay here!" Jaune said, "I'll go get help!" he vaulted the railing and landed in the river.**

 **Watts stood on the deck for a moment until he realized what had happened. With a curse, he threw himself after Jaune.**

"Dee dee dee!" Cinder said with a chuckle. Emerald looked at Mercury with a 'what the fuck' expression on her face, but Mercury just shrugged and went back to the movie and his popcorn.

 **Nearby, Team C_DL was in a firefight with the boarders, hooting and howling as they fired at their assailants. Oobleck sat in cover nearby, scared stiff. Neptune ran up next to them and sighed at their behavior.**

" **Valeans." He said with exasperation. Suddenly, the flaming Hook Man ran on deck and made a move at Neptune. Cardin saw this and unloaded into the man, sending him overboard. "Hot damn, nice shooting! And did I lose my cool?" he brought up the puzzle box. "I think not." The balcony above him started to collapse, forcing both parties to abandon ship or be crushed by the debris.**

"Should I be worried that this you is such a good thief?" Sun asked his friend.

"Eh, six out of ten." Roman said, with Neo nodding in agreement.

"I could do better than that." Emerald chirped.

 **A few minutes later, two groups washed up on opposite sides of the river. On one side, Team C_DL, along with Oobleck and Mercury, was leading the majority of the survivors and the horses onto the beach. On the other, Jaune, Velvet, Neptune and Watts washed up.**

" **We've lost everything!" Velvet wailed. "All our tools, all our equipment! All my clothes!"**

" **Hey! Hey Jaune!" Mercury yelled from across the river. "Looks like I got all the horses!" he bragged.**

" **Hey Merc! Looks to me like you're on the** _ **wrong side of the river**_ **!" Jaune yelled back.**

 **Mercury scoffed until he looked around. He began swearing profusely when he realized that Jaune was right.**

Unbeknownst to anyone, Salem had paid virtually no attention to the movie since her initial appearance, instead choosing to look over the menu for anything that looked appetizing. She soon found that virtually none of the items on it were familiar to her. Things such as popcorn, nachos, candy, soda, and churros were completely foreign concepts to her.

"Logan." She said.

" _Have you come to a decision, Ma'am?"_ the white wolf asked, appearing next to her.

"My decision is that nothing on this menu sounds even remotely edible, yet I see these people consuming them in copious quantities. I would have your recommendations."

" _Well…"_

* * *

 **I had written out an entire bit where the Wolf give Salem his recommendations on theater food, but I figured it threw things off, so I cut. Instead, I'll drop little hints here and there about what she's consuming. Personally, I'll take popcorn, soda, and anything with blasphemous amounts of cheese on it. Unhealthy? Most certainly. Worth it? Fuck the hell yes it is.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite, and Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 5/21/19**


	28. Chapter 28- The Mummy, Part 4

**Hey folks, back again. For those of you who are confused, I will confirm that Crosshares is canon in this universe because I love that ship. Easily one of my top ten. And now, on with the show.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 28

 **The next morning, the group was preparing to leave from a village they had come across the night before. While Velvet was with the young women of the village, and Watts was being attacked by some of the older women, Neptune and Jaune were busy haggling with a man for some camels to get them across the desert.**

" **I only want four, not a damn herd of them!" Neptune told the man, who kept insisting on selling him more.**

" **Will you just pay the man? For Gods' sake!" Jaune told him.**

" **Fine." He grumbled, pulling out his wallet and handing over a couple hundred lien. "Can't believe the price of these fleabags."**

"The price is warranted, though." Sun defended his countryman. "The more desert-y parts of Vacuo can only be effieciently traversed by camel-back. Horses will also do fine, but they have more trouble since they aren't adapted to the terrain the way a camel is."

" **Y' know, we probably could've gotten them for free." Jaune said, taking the reigns of a pair of camels. "All we'd have to do is give him your sister."**

" **She's not actually my sister, though it is a tempting offer isn't it."**

" **Yeah." Jaune said, seeing Velvet walk up in the clothing of the native women. She wore black sheer cloth over her chest and legs, and a veil over her face leaving only her eyes visible. She wore the traditional cloth over her hair as well, out of respect for local custom. "Awfully tempting." Velvet caught him staring and smiled.**

"Mmm, me likey." Coco purred.

"Hey, eyes up top, missy." Velvet chided.

 **As the sun began to set, the group set off across the desert on camel back. They traveled single file, with Jaune leading the way, and Watts in back, thankfully downwind.**

" **Never did like camels." Neptune complained. "Filthy buggers. They smell, they bite, they spit." The camera cut to Watts briefly as he spat on the ground.**

" **I think they're adorable." Velvet said, scratching her camel's head.**

 **They travelled for several days in this manner. Though they moved mostly at night, they still had to contend with the scorching heat and blowing sand, and even so, they pressed onward.**

 **One night, as they continued their trek, Velvet fell asleep in the saddle and would have fallen if not for Jaune being right next to her to lean against. Jaune gently set her back upright before returning to navigating. Neptune and Watts had done the same, though Watts was snoring so loudly that he woke Neptune. Annoyed, the blue-haired boy whacked him with his riding crop before feigning sleep, as Watts started awake with a mumble.**

 **In the distance, Jaune heard the neighing of a horse. On a nearby rock formation, he saw several figures on horseback. The camera zoomed in to show the same group that had seen him leave Hamunaptra several years ago. Blake was also among them, keeping watch.**

" **This one is strong." She said with a grim smile.**

 **A few days later, the two groups from the boat met up by a cliff face, Jaune leading his group, and Mercury leading his.**

" **Morning, old buddy." Mercury called to Jaune, who gave a nod of recognition back. The groups stood for a few moments, staring at the open desert, before Dove spoke up.**

" **Man, what the hell are we doing?" he said, annoyed.**

" **Simmer down, man. Just be patient." Mercury assured him.**

" **Remember our bet, Arc." Cardin said. "First one to the city, 500 in cashy money."**

" **Hundred of those is yours if you help us win that bet." Dove told Mercury.**

" **Deal."**

" **Get ready for it." Jaune told his group.**

" **For what?" Velvet asked.**

" **We're about to be shown the way."**

 **As the sun crested the horizon, the air began to ripple. To Velvet, it looked to be a mirage, but mirages were never this elaborate. Suddenly, as if the veil that concealed it was blown off by the wind, a rock formation appeared in the distance. Set into it, was an elaborate, clearly ancient ruin. The air ceased rippling and the ruins seemed more solid.**

"Okay, what the actual hell?" Coco said.

"This sometimes happens in novels." Blake said. "If I had to guess, the city always existed, but its physical location is only made apparent under certain conditions."

" **Here we go again." Jaune half-moaned.**

 **At once, Jaune and Mercury urged their camels forward at a gallop. Team C_DL, Velvet, Neptune and Watts followed soon after, with Oobleck and the workers bringing up the rear.**

"And they're off!" Nora yelled.

"It's Legs in the lead, with Vomit Boy closing in." Yang said, joining in on the joke.

"But what's this? Legs is cheating! He's whacking Vomit Boy with his crop! Does he know nothing of fair play?" Ruby joined in.

"Oh, looks like Fearless Leader won't be taking any of that! No sir. Oh, Legs is gonna be feeling that later." Nora continued.

"The lead is massive!" Coco decided to get in on the fun. "But, here's a surprise! Bun-bun has taken the lead!"

"Is that really going to be a thing?" Velvet asked.

"And Bun-bun wins!"

"That's a yes." Velvet sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

 **Camps were soon set up within the ruined city. The larger group quickly claimed the main entrance for themselves and set the diggers to work, with Oobleck directing them, and Cardin supervising and helping if needed.**

 **Jaune's group had claimed an opening towards the rear of the complex. While Velvet was busy polishing a large mirror, Jaune tied a rope around a large column. As he tied the knot, he constantly kept hitting Watts, just for kicks.**

"Anyone notice that the workers are all Faunus?" Ilia said, feeling a little indignation. Adam had also noticed, and his 'righteous fury' was beginning to build.

"I had noticed that," Blake chimed in before Adam could "But at least they aren't doing all the work alone. CRDL is at least helping them when needed and, surprisingly, Dr. Oobleck is speaking to them in Faunuspeak."

"Dr. Oobleck is fluent in over 15 languages and regional dialects, several of which are nearly extinct." Goodwitch informed them, "He is an archaeologist after all, not just a teacher."

"What? You mean the entire Faunus race has their own language?" Ruby asked.

"Indeed, we do, Ms. Rose." Ghira confirmed. "It is actually the number one language spoken in Menagerie."

"So, does this mean that at least 90% of all Faunus are functionally bilingual?" Weiss asked.

"Essentially."

"Huh. Talk about an advantage." Weiss mumbled, considering the implications and possibilities.

 **Cardin noticed them working away from the rest of the group.**

" **Hey," he said to Oobleck. "Do they know something that we don't?"**

" **Possibly, though I doubt it. Ms. Scarlatina is far too young to know much of any real value." Oobleck replied.**

" **That's a statue of Anubis, god of the underworld." Velvet said. "It's legs go deep underground. According to my research, we should find a secret compartment at the base containing the golden** _ **Book of Light.**_ **"**

 **Jaune walked up to her, his voice a little shaky. "So, uh, what's the deal with these old mirrors?"**

" _ **Ancient**_ **mirrors." Velvet corrected. "It's an ancient Vacuoan trick. You'll see."**

"Oh! I know that one!" Sun said excitedly.

"I know your from Vacuo, but you seem a little _too_ knowledgeable." Weiss said.

"I may not look like it, but I was a pretty good academic back in combat school. It's part of how I got a full-ride to Haven."

" **Right. Uh, here, this is for you." He handed her a small cloth roll. "It's just something I, uh, borrowed off my Valean brethren. Should serve you fair to middling when your, uh. Yeah. What're you lookin' at?" he said to Watts, who said his hands defensively. Velvet opened it up to find a set of semi-new archaeology tools.**

" **Look out for bugs." Watts said as Jaune descended the rope. "I hate bugs."**

"Ugh, me too." Summer said with a shudder. Qrow suddenly burst out laughing. "What's so funny, bird-boy?"

"I- I just remembered one time back in Beacon." Qrow said in between fits of laughter. "There was a spider crawling down the wall behind you. You noticed it, shrieked, and jumped into Raven's arms yelling for someone to kill it."

"Oh, I remember that!" Tai said, "Raven wound up dropping you and killing it herself."

"SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUUUUUP!" Summer whined.

 **A few minutes later, they were standing in a dark room filled with cobweb, the only light coming from the hole they came in from and the torch Jaune held.**

" **Do you realize that we're standing in a room nobody has entered in over 3000 years?" Velvet said with wonder.**

 **Neptune was the next down the rope. "Whooo, what is that Gods-awful stench?" he looked back and saw Watts coming down behind him. "Oh."**

 **Velvet walked over to one of the many mirrors, dusted it off and carefully positioned it. "And then there was light." She said as the mirror reflected the light of the sun off of several mirrors, thus illuminating the room.**

" **Hey, that is a neat trick." Jaune said.**

"See?" Sun said with a little pride.

"Huh. Alright, credit where it's due." Weiss said.

'What bizzaro world have I entered where a Schnee compliments a Faunus?" Adam thought in disbelief.

" **Oh my Gods." Velvet said. "It's a sah-netjer."**

" **Say what now?"**

" **A preparation room."**

" **Preparation for what?"**

" **For entering the afterlife." Velvet said, trying to sound all spooky.**

" **Mummies, dude, this is where they made the mummies." Neptune clarified.**

 **The group went down a corridor off to the side of the preparation room. Jaune drew his pistol and led the way, torch before him. As they made their way, they heard a strange skittering sound, as if a swarm of bugs had just washed over them. They scrambled around a bit until it stopped.**

" **What the hell was that?" Neptune asked.**

" **Sounded like… bugs." Jaune said.**

" **He said bugs!" Velvet whisper-yelled.**

" **What do you mean bugs? I hate bugs."**

"What? No cringing, Mom?" Yang teased.

"Young lady, you may be seventeen, and I may be dead, but don't think I won't come down there and put you over my knee!" Summer said with every bit of motherly authority.

"Yes, ma'am!" Yang said, the fear of the Gods officially put in her.

 **They exited the corridor and entered a new chamber. Inside was the base of the statue they had seen outside.**

" **The legs of Anubis." Velvet said. "The secret compartment should be hidden somewhere inside here."**

 **As she moved to inspect the statue, whispers could be heard all around. Jaune determined they were coming from behind the statue, and moved Velvet behind him. He handed her the torch and carefully readied his revolvers, one in each hand. Neptune and Watts did the same, readying their own guns. When he neared the edge of statue, he burst around the corner, guns at the ready-**

 **Only to be met by the other dig team, guns levelled at him.**

" **You sacred the bejesus out of us, Arc." Cardin said with a sigh.**

" **Likewise." Jaune said.**

" **Hey, that's my toolkit." Sky said, noticing the kit Velvet hand in her hands.**

" **No, I don't think so." Jaune said, raising his guns again. Team C_DL did the same.**

" **Okaaay, maybe I was mistaken." Sky said as he backed away and everyone put down their guns.**

"Smart boy." Coco commented, wrapping her arm around Velvet's shoulders.

" **Well, have a nice day, gentlemen. We have a lot of work to do." Velvet said.**

" **Ah, I believe that this is our dig site." Dr. Oobleck said.**

" **We got here first." Everyone's guns went up again.**

" **This here's our statue, friend." Dove said firmly.**

" **I didn't hear anyone call dibs." Jaune said, "I assume you're all familiar with the International Dibs Protocol." As the boys continued their gun-point bickering, Velvet noticed a crack in the floor. She moved some rocks into it with her foot, and heard them impact on something below them. Her mental wheels turned as the plan came together.**

" **For goodness sake, let's be nice, kids." Velvet said, pushing Jaune's guns with one arm. "If we're going to play together, we have to learn to share." She gave him a pointed stare. "There are other places to dig."**

"Thank you! If someone needs to play the adult, I'm glad it's Velvet." Weiss said.

'Again? What the fuck?'

"Hey, we were discussing very important matters, thanks!" Neptune defended.

"Yeah, the rule of dibs is a sacred bond." Ruby agreed.

"If we ignored it, war and chaos would reign." Yang said.

"Sometimes, it is all that keeps society from breaking down completely." Blake nodded.

"Blake, no, not you too!" Weiss whined, making her teammates giggle.

 **Quickly, Velvet led her team down deeper into the complex. They came upon a vast room, barren but for a few small statues. Jaune and Neptune stood on these statues, Neptune holding the tools, and Jaune using them on the ceiling. At the moment, he was bashing it with a sledgehammer.**

" **According to these hieroglyphics," Velvet said, "We're right beneath the statue. We should come up right between his legs."**

" **And when those damned Cowboys go to sleep- no offense..." Neptune said.**

" **None taken." Jaune replied, handing him the hammer and taking a pickaxe instead.**

" **We'll dig our way up and steal the book right out from under them."**

" **Now, are you sure we can find this secret compartment thing?" Jaune asked Velvet as he swung the pickaxe at where he was just hammering.**

" **Absolutely, so long as those beastly Valeans haven't beaten us to it. No offense."**

" **None taken."**

" **Hey, anyone see where our smelly friend ran off to?" Neptune asked.**

"I just want to say that I love this interpretation of Watts." Cinder said.

"Gee, I wonder why?" Mercury said snidely.

"Oh, don't act like you don't hate his guts either." Emerald said, "That prick actually made Roman seem tolerable."

"Should I be insulted or complimented by that?" Roman said to Neo.

Neo put down her spoon, and held up a sign, "Dunno. Both?"

* * *

 **And there we have it. I reeally enjoy writing this movie, even if it took me longer than I wanted to write out the reactions this week. Also, this movie is beginning to look like it will 9-10 chapters long, depending on how the next chapter goes. I'm on the last thirty minutes of the film, so it may stop at nine if I decide on another double-length finale as is becoming my custom.**

 **In addition, after The Mummy is finished, I will be doing something a few reviewers have been asking for and going back to give the chapters basic titles, like Jurassic Park, Part 5, or The Mummy, Grand Finale. the only exceptions will be for the starts of new movies, as I don't want to spoil the surprise for you guys. Nothing quite warms my heart when you guys get all excited in your reviews when I do the movies you like.**

 **And speaking of reviews, I want to address something that has been nagging at me since last week. See, I received a guest review that was probably the most hostile review I've ever received. The reviewer said that the whole story wasn't for him because I brought Pyrrha back and made Arkos a thing. This, I feel, is one of the problems with the FNDM. He decided to drop something I have spent months working my ass off on because of a single decision he didn't agree with. What? Really? If people seem to be shoving Arkos down your throat (guys actual words) then you can search for the pairings you want to see or the ones you don't, it's seriously an option on this site. I won't shed a tear because your narrow mind can't see what I do with Arkos, which I feel is the first canon ship in the entire show and is one that deserved the chance to develop. Now, we may never get that chance.**

 **Sorry about the downer A.N. Be sure to Follow, Favorite, and leave a Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 5/28/19**


	29. Chapter 29- The Mummy, Part 5

**Hey guys, we're back! I hope all my American readers had a great Memorial Day, cuz mine was spent at work in the Meat Department becoming so intimately familiar with ground beef and near-freezing temperatures that I never want to see or experience either ever again if at all possible.**

 **On upside, time and a half! And folks say there's no such thing as a silver lining.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter XX

 **Watts was crawling down a passage he could have easily walked down were it not for his entomophobia. When he finally entered a full-sized chamber, he stood and was amazed by the first thing that caught his eye: a carving on the wall of a man covered in strange blue insects.**

" **What have we here?" he said, putting his torch in the ground next to him so he could see and use both hands. He inspected the insects and thought them to be some kind of precious metal. "Blue gold. This will fetch a pretty penny." He said, pulling out a knife and plucking it off the wall. He held it in his hand to feel the weight of it. Satisfied, he put it in his bag and plucked off another.**

"Pretty, pretty, shiny, shiny." Yang said. Her team and Team JNPR joined her on the second verse.

'Dear sister, what have they done to you?' Winter thought, rolling her eyes with a smile.

 **Back at the statue, Team C_DL had found the hidden compartment and were preparing to open it. Oobleck was busy brushing dust off a certain hieroglyph when Cardin suddenly went at it with a crow bar.**

" **Careful!" Oobleck said, grabbing the metal rod. "Seti was no fool. I suggest we let the diggers open it." Motioning to the men who were nervously backing away from the statue.**

" **I think we should probably listen to the doctor on this one, Cardin." Dove said.**

" **Yeah, sure. Let them open it." Cardin reluctantly agreed.**

"That's nice." Adam said with venom, "Let the poor, honest, _faunus_ workers do all the dangerous and laborious jobs. How typically human."

"Jeez, what bug crawled up your ass and died?" Velvet said.

"Seriously, dude, get the fuck over yourself." Coco agreed.

" _I will have to agree Mr. Taurus. And just to make sure you behave yourself,"_ a pack of snarling black wolves materialized from the shadows around the White Fang leader, _"I shall have Ragnar's pack keep an eye on you until such time as your opinion is necessary. Do be careful though. Ragnar is in control of himself, but the rest of his pack is still rather bloodthirsty, I'm afraid."_

"They don't seem that bad to me." Summer commented, whilst scratching one of the wolves behind his ear.

 **Soon, a trio of diggers was working on the panel with crow bars of their own, Team C_DL and Mercury keeping their distance while Dr. Oobleck ordered the men in their native tongue. When they finally managed to remove the panel, they were blasted with some kind of liquid. When the mist from it's release cleared, it was horrific; they had been practically melted. Their skin boiled and burned, and they screamed in agony as Team Asshole yelled in fright.**

" _Well, I suppose your concern was somewhat warranted."_ Logan admitted.

"Ya think?!" Neo signed.

 **Down below, Jaune's team was taking a break. Neptune was using one of the tools as a make-shift golf club, using it to hit rocks across the chamber, while Velvet was talking to Jaune about how the ancient Vacuoans mummified people.**

" **So, lemme get this straight." Jaune said, "They ripped out your guts and stuffed them in jars?"**

" **And then they'd take out your heart as well." Velvet said, enjoying Neptune's obvious discomfort. "Oh! And do you know how they got your brains?"**

" **Velvs, I really don't think we need to hear this- "Neptune protested, though he knew it would do no good.**

" **They took a sharp, red-hot poker, stick it up your nose, scramble things about a bit, and pull it all out through your nostrils."**

" **Yeesh, that's gotta hurt." Jaune said, rubbing his nose in discomfort.**

" **It's called mummification. You'd be dead when they do this." She assured him.**

" **Hey, if I don't make it out of this," Jaune said to Neptune, "Don't put me down for mummification."**

" **Like wise." Neptune assured him, before hitting another rock. When he hit, the ceiling suddenly came down between them. Neptune stood stock still with a 'did I do that?' feeling blossoming in his chest. Luckily, it wasn't the whole ceiling, just a massive block of carved stone, along with a few large stones from the actual ceiling.**

"Wow, I think my heart rate shot up a couple dozen points there." Taiyang admitted, clutching his chest.

"Should take better care of yourself there, partner." Qrow said, poking the dragon.

"Said the alcoholic."

"I'm not addicted to alcohol, I just like the taste." Qrow grinned.

" **Oh, my Gods." Velvet said, coughing from the dust. "It's a sarcophagus, buried at the base of Anubis." She looked up and saw the hole where it came from. "He must have been someone of great importance. Or he did something very naughty."**

 **Back with Watts, he had almost cleared the wall of the bejeweled bugs, and was putting another in his bag, when he accidentally dropped it without noticing. It hit the floor without much noise and inexplicably began to shake. Then something burst out of it; a small, skittering beetle. It ran over to Watts' boot and bit into it. Watts noticed this and began to scream as if he felt it crawling up his leg. He felt it climb higher and tore open his shirt.**

"Oh my God!" Weiss muttered, putting her hand over her mouth in horror.

 **It wasn't on his skin, it was** _ **under**_ **it. A lump was moving up his torso, like a migrating tumor, from his waist, up his gut, and disappearing in the middle of his chest. It reappeared crawling up his neck and into his skull.**

"Holy fucking…" Torchwick whispered.

"Talk about nightmare fuel." Neo signed, leaning into Roman's side for comfort.

"You said it, Neo." Roman said, putting his arm around her like a father.

 **Velvet and Jaune worked to remove the dirt from the sarcophagus, while Neptune brought around a torch.**

" **Well, who is it?" he asked. "Does it say?"**

" **It says 'He That Shall Not Be Named'." Velvet said.**

 **Jaune blew on a piece of metal below the oh-so-specific name, revealing what looked like an eight-pointed star. "This looks like some sort of lock." he said.**

" **Well, whoever's in here sure as hell wasn't getting out." Neptune commented.**

" **Yeah, no kidding. It'll take us a month to crack this thing without a key."**

" **A key…" Velvet muttered. "A key. A key! Now that's what he was talking about!" she said as she dove into a bag.**

" **Who was talking about what?" Jaune said, confused. He looked to Neptune, who just shrugged.**

" **The man on the boat. The one with the hook. He asked me about a key." She stood up and held up the puzzle box. She opened it and inserted it into the lock. A perfect fit. Velvet smiled proudly until they heard Watts screaming from the hallway. Jaune took point, gun at the ready, followed by Velvet and Neptune, who grabbed the puzzle box before leaving the chamber.**

 **Watts ran into the hallway, clutching his head and screaming. He ran past the trio, not looking where he was going. He ran to the end of the hallway and rammed his head into the wall with a sickening crunch before falling over stone dead.**

"Ya think he got it?"

"NOT NOW, YANG!"

 **That evening, Team C_DL's group camped in the main complex, while Jaune's group camped near their entrance outside the main complex. Velvet and Neptune were sat around a fire, having just finished a simple meal of vegetables and dried meat.**

" **What do you suppose killed him?" Velvet asked.**

" **Did you ever see him eat?" Neptune asked back, half-joking.**

" **Seems our friends from Vale ran into some trouble of their own today." Jaune reported, sitting next to Velvet, shotgun in hand. "Three of their diggers were, uh, melted."**

" **What?" Velvet said with incredulity.**

" **How?" Neptune asked.**

" **Acid." Jaune said plainly. No point mincing the truth. "Pressurized salt acid. Some kind of ancient booby trap."**

"Uh, guys?" Ruby said, "Just making a, uh, team leader executive-type decision here. Once all the big stuff is taken care of and we can finally be Huntresses, no taking jobs that involve ancient ruins… or temples… or caves."

"Good call, sis." Yang nodded

" **Maybe this place really is cursed." Neptune said, throwing a dried stick onto the fire as the wind howled by, threatening to snuff it out.**

 **Velvet rolled her eyes. "For gods- come on now, you two."**

" **What? You don't believe in superstitions?" Jaune said, poking the fire a bit, moving things around.**

" **No, I don't." Velvet said with defiance. "I believe that if I can see it and can touch, then it's real. That's what I think."**

" **Yeah, well, I believe in being prepared." Jaune replied, cocking his shot gun one-handed.**

" **Well, then, let's see what our friend the warden believed in, huh?" Neptune said as he began digging through the late warden's bag.**

"Rude." Weiss said, crossing her arms.

"Not much he can do to stop it, Weissy." Yang said.

"Still rude." Weiss mumbled, sinking in her seat.

 **He rooted around for a few seconds before retracting his hand, yelling in pain, making Velvet scream next to him and Jaune jump up, ready for a fight.**

" **What?"**

" **What is it?"**

" **Relax," Neptune said, sucking on the cut on his finger. "Just a broken bottle." He pulled out the offending bottle. "Huh. Glenlivet. 12 years old. Say what you will about the stinky bugger, but he had good taste."**

"Meh, the stuff tastes better after 15 years." Qrow commented.

 **As Neptune took a swig from the bottle, Jaune turned at the sound of horses whinnying. He handed the shotgun to Velvet. "Take this and stay here." He ordered as he stood up and drew his revolvers.**

" **Wait!" Velvet said, following after him. "Wait for me!"**

" **Velvet, sorry, but didn't the man with the bag full of guns just tell us to stay here?" Neptune protested, following after her.**

 **Bandits began to swarm the camp, firing at random. Oobleck yelled for Cardin and his team to wake up and defend them. The whole team joined the fray, firing and killing the bandits with each shot. Jaune joined in soon after and, after taking some time to find his groove, began dropping bandits as well as C_DL. Velvet also came in, clearly out of her element. She heard a horse whinny behind her and gasped when she saw a bandit charging her. She yelled in fright and fired the gun, killing the rider and throwing her to the ground.**

 **Neptune was kind-of part of the fighting too. He was crouched behind a ruined wall, sipping from the bottle and taking pot shots at passing bandits with a handgun. Mercury ran up next to him, grabbing the bottle from him and taking a long swing. It started to pour out of his mouth when he turned to see a bandit riding at them both, yelling his war cry. Mercury spat in Neptune's face and they both ran for it in opposite directions.**

" **ARC!" Neptune yelled as the rider chased after him. Thankfully, Jaune heard him and tackled the rider from his horse as they passed. The rider, her mask falling off during the landing to reveal the face of Blake, drew her sword only to have Jaune shoot it from her hands. He turned and shot another rider from his horse. Blake retrieved her sword and knocked Jaune's gun from his hand. He dodged her next two strikes and rolled backwards towards the fire. As he recovered, he lit a stick of TNT in the fire and held it threateningly in front of him.**

" **Enough!" Blake ordered, not breaking eye contact with Jaune. "Stand down! We will shed no more blood, but you must leave. Leave this place or die." One of the bandits rode up with Blake's horse. "You have one day." She warned as she mounted her horse. She yelled a couple phrases in a language nobody recognized, with six notable exceptions.**

"That's Faunuspeak." Ilia observed.

"So these Medjai people are all Faunus?" Blake asked.

"Most likely." Ghira said, "Faunuspeak is almost exclusive to the Faunus race, but there are a few humans who are proficient in it, mostly academics."

"Like Doctor Oobleck." Weiss pointed out.

"You guys are missing the point." Ilia said, "Remember at the beginning of the movie? Blake said that the Medjai were descendants of the Pharoah's personal bodyguards."

The faunus in the room were silent as they made the connection and realized the question that logically followed: if a human ruler entrusted his life to a small band of Faunus, then how did the problems of the modern day even come to pass? How could they?

 **At her command, the bandits fell back into the desert. Since the threat was gone, Jaune simply pulled the fuse from the dynamite and pocketed the explosive. He turned and saw Velvet on the ground, shotgun still firmly in her grip.**

" **Velvet." He walked over and took the gun from her. He tossed it aside as he helped her up. "You okay?"**

" **Yes. Yes, I'm fine." She said, visibly shaken.**

" **Ya see? This proves it!" Cardin said. "Ol' Seti's fortune's gotta be under this sand. For them to protect it like that, you know there's treasure down there."**

" **These Bedouin Faunus are a desert people. They value water, not gold." Jaune said, speaking from experience.**

" **You know," Sky said, his face still half-covered in shaving cream, "Maybe, just at night, we could, uh, combine forces? For safety reasons?"**

"Well, at least one member of Team Dickhead has a brain." Yang said.

"Sky isn't like the rest of his team." Velvet admitted, despite the hell CRDL had put her through. "Out of all of them, he's probably the black sheep. He never joined in when they harassed me, and always seemed to have a look of disappointment on his face."

"Are you seriously defending them?" Jaune said, probably the person who could best sympathize with her.

"I'm just saying we shouldn't condemn a single man for the actions of a group."

"Or vice versa." Blake said, with a pointed glance at Adam.

 **Later that night, Neptune was sleeping, and Jaune and Velvet had been drinking. Now, Jaune had been around liquor for a while. He knew how much he could handle, and he knew how to pace himself, so he had a bit of a buzz right now. Velvet however, had never really drunk period. She had no idea what the hell she was doing, and had no idea of her limits whatsoever. Needless to say, she was absolutely smashed. To the point where she had convinced Jaune to teach her some rudimentary fist-fighting. She had a half-way decent stance, and Jaune was showing her how to do a right hook.**

" **Alright, so just ball up your fist, and put it right here…" he moved her arm into the right spot. "Alright? Now, put it right here and mean it." He put up one his hands as a target.**

" **Alright… mean it!" Velvet swung, connecting square in the middle of his hand with a satisfying smack. Unfortunately, she lost her balance and turned as she fell. Thankfully, Jaune caught her under the arms and helped her sit down.**

" **Okay, think it's time for another drink." Jaune said, Velvet giggling the whole time.**

 **Velvet managed to stop giggling long enough to steady her breathing. "Unlike my brother, sir, I know when to say no." she said before taking another swig from the bottle.**

"No you don't." Coco chuckled. Velvet slapped her shoulder and leaned away from her, pouting.

" **Yeah," Jaune said with a chuckle, "And unlike your brother, you I just don't get."**

" **Ah." She said, wincing as the liquid burned down her throat. "I know. You're wondering 'what's a place like me doing in a girl like this?'"**

" **Yeah, something like that."**

" **Well, you see, Vacuo is in my blood." She said, taking out a small locket. "I never really knew my parents, but according to the matron of my orphanage, my father was a very famous explorer. And he loved Vacuo so much, that he married my mother, who was Vacuoan and quite an adventurer herself."**

"That's, I think, half-true." Velvet said, "My dad is from Vale, and my mom is from Vacuo, but they are both alive and well back home, and the most adventurous they are is letting me skip school to go on a family trip to an amusement park."

" **Okay. I get your mother, and I get your father. I get him, but…" he pointed at Neptune, "What are you doing here?"**

 **Velvet sighed angrily. "Look, I, I may not be an explorer, or an adventurer, or a treasure hunter, or a- or a gunfighter,** _ **Mister Arc,**_ **but I am proud of what I am."**

" **And what is that?" Jaune asked.**

" **I… am a librarian!" she said with drunken pride. "And now, I am going to kiss you, Mr. Arc."**

" **Call me Jaune."**

 **Velvet leaned in for the kiss, and Jaune leaned in too, but Velvet's liquor finally caught up to her and she passed out halfway to his lips.**

"Oooh, so close." Yang teased.

"You get a stay of execution, Arc." Coco cracked her knuckles.

"Coco, please. Let the ship happen!" Nora said with a shit-eating grin.

* * *

 **Alright folks, we're officially half-way through the movie, at least in terms of chapters. I'm currently working on the finale, which will be chapter 10 of the Mummy.**

 **I would like to take this opportunity to let you all know that this is the only official version of this story. Anyone else who posts it on another website, whether they give due credit or not, is doing so with neither my knowledge nor my consent, and while I appreciate that you guys somehow like my writings and may therefore want me to get wider exposure, I would rather it be done *after* discussing it with me first. With that said, will the reader known as TheAnimatedUniverse on Wattpad please contact me as soon as possible? I believe we need to talk.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite, and Review, and I will catch you all later.**

 **Next Update:6/4/19**


	30. Chapter 30- The Mummy, Part 6

**Hey guys, we're back. Do you know what the worst part of being a writer is, even as a hobby? Having too many damn story ideas. I have pilots or ideas for pilots of, like, four different RWBY fics just sitting in my laptop taking up space. For folks who follow me personally, I might end up putting them out just for kicks and to see how you guys like them.  
**

 **Now, let's get on with the show.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 30

 **The next day, the teams returned to their respective dig sites. The diggers who had been injured the day before, unfortunately didn't make it through the night, succumbing to their wounds.**

 **And still, Team C_DL pressed onward. They managed to safely remove the slab and uncover the hidden compartment. Another trio of diggers carefully removed a heavy wooden box from within and set it on the ground. Sky blew the dust from the lid, while Oobleck used a rag to remove what didn't. Dove made to open it, but Oobleck warded him back.**

" **There is a curse upon this chest." He said.**

"There's a phrase I never thought I'd hear come from _that_ mouth." Weiss commented.

"I must agree with you, Ms. Schnee. Dr. Oobleck has ever been a voice of logic and reason with the chaos of Beacon." Glynda said.

"Hey, kid. How's Oz?" Qrow asked of Oscar.

"Oh, um, he's kinda, um…" the boy said, not meet anyone's gaze and keeping his eyes firmly on the ground.

"Kinda what?"

"Gimme a sec, I'm just trying to find the right way to put this. It's like he's locked himself in his room." He paused, "He says he's not coming out until the movie is over."

" **Curse my ass." Said Dove.**

" **Yeah, who gives a crap?" Cardin agreed.**

" **Have a care, Mr. Winchester." Oobleck warned him. "In these hallowed grounds, that which was set forth in ancient times is as strong today as it was then."**

" **Alright, alright, Doc, we understand." Cardin said defensively, "Now, what's it say?"**

 **Dr. Oobleck began reading the hieroglyphics in the lid, first in the tongue of Ancient Vacuo, then translated. "Death shall come on swift wings for whomsoever opens this chest." When he finished reading, whisper echoed throughout the chamber, wind blew through and the torches flickered. This frightened off the diggers and worried Mercury, but the latter at least stuck around.**

" **We should not be here." Mercury said, fear creeping up his neck as her drew his revolver.**

"It's not cowardice. I just have a well-developed sense of self-preservation." Mercury said.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Merc." Emerald joked, patting his shoulder.

" **It says," Oobleck continued, "There is one, the undead, who, if brought back to life, is bound by sacred law to consummate this curse."**

" **Well, then let's make sure we don't bring anybody back from the dead, shall we?" Dove commented.**

"Can anyone say foreshadowing?" Blake joked.

" **He will kill all who open this chest and assimilate their organs and fluids, and in so doing, he will regenerate, and no longer be the undead, but a plague upon this world."**

" **Well, we didn't come all this way for nothing, did we?" Cardin said.**

" **That's right." Sky agreed.**

" **It's the curse." Mercury whispered, all the stories he had heard about Hamunaptra over the years flooding into his mind. He ran from the room in fear, yelling about the curse.**

"Not a coward." Mercury mumbled, make Emerald giggle at his expense.

" **Stupid, superstitious bastard." Dove growled as Sky and Cardin opened the chest.**

 **Down below, Jaune's team had opened the sarcophagus to discover another inside with the same lock on it. Together, Jaune and Neptune lifted out the inner casket and propped it against the wall.**

" **Oh, I've dreamt about this since I was a little girl!" Velvet said excitedly.**

" **You dream about dead guys?" Jaune teased, but it rolled off her as she noticed something.**

" **Look, the sacred spells have been chiseled off." She pointed to the center of the sarcophagus as Neptune retrieved the key from his pocket. "This man must have been condemned, not just in this life, but in the next as well."**

" **Huh, tough break." Jaune said.**

" **Yeah, I'm all in tears." Neptune said with a grunt as he undid the lock. "Now, let's see who's inside, shall we?" Neptune and Jaune grabbed the sides of the casket and pulled as hard as they could. They strained for a few minutes-**

 **When suddenly the lid came off and a blackened skeleton nearly fell out. Everyone screamed in fright for a moment before calming down. Jaune smiled in relief and laughed a little.**

"Dammit, Wolf!" Tai said, clutching his heart. "Is this gonna be a recurring thing or something?"

"… _Maybe…"_

" **Damn it! I hate when they do that." Velvet said.**

" **Is he supposed to look like that?" Jaune asked, his face twisting in disgust.**

" **No, I've never seen a mummy look like this before. He's still… still…"**

" **Juicy." Neptune and Jaune said together, sharing a high-five afterwards.**

"Gods, I think I'm gonna puke." Yang said, clutching her stomach, "And the smell of that fish isn't helping, Blake."

"Deal with it." Blake said, taking another bite of her snack.

" **Yes." Velvet agreed, for lack of a better term. "He must be more than 3000 years old and yet it looks as if he's still… decomposing."**

" **Hey," Jaune said, walking over to the lid, "Look at this."**

 **The unofficial brother-sister pair walked over and saw what he noticed: the inside of the lid had several strange markings on it. Velvet had an idea, but there was only way to find out. She put her hands against the markings and ran the tips of her fingers along them.**

" **Finger nails." She confirmed. "This man was buried alive. And he left a message." she pointed to some rudimentary hieratic symbols. "Death… is only the beginning."**

 **Back above, Team C_DL and Oobleck was letting the chest air out whatever smoke had built up within and had blasted out at them when they opened it. Inside lay a large something wrapping in coarse linen cloth. Oobleck unwrapped it to reveal a large tome made of black stone with the familiar lock on the front.**

" **Oh my Gods," Oobleck whisper, "It does exist.** _ **The Book of the Dead.**_ **"**

" **A book?" Dove said, growing angry. "Who cares about a stupid book? Where's the damn treasure?"**

" **This, gentlemen, this is treasure."**

"See, now _that_ sounds more like Dr. Oobleck." Weiss commented.

" **Hell, I wouldn't trade ya for a brass- "Cardin said as he kicked the box. When he did, a side panel came off, revealing a set of five canopic jars, one of which had shattered over the millenia.**

" **There's your treasure, gentlemen." Oobleck said.**

" **Well, it's a start." Sky said.**

"What? Perfectly preserved relics aren't good enough?" Sun commented, a little offended.

"Are they made of gold?" Coco asked, lowering her glasses at him.

"Well, no, but- "

"Well, there you go, so shut up." Velvet pinched her side, before apologizing to Sun.

 **That evening, Velvet was walking by Dr. Oobleck's tent, examining something in her hands, when she noticed the doctor struggling to get the book open. She noticed the lock on the cover, and a plan began formulating her head. She would first have to wait for him to fall asleep, though.**

" **I believe you need a key to open that." She commented to the doctor before continuing on her way.**

" **Say, Arc," Cardin said as he, his team and Mercury huddled around the fire at the Jaune's campsite. "What do you think these bad boys will fetch back home?" he showed off his jar.**

" **We heard you guys found yourselves a nice gooey mummy." Sky commented with a smirk. "Congrats."**

" **You know, if you dry that fellow out, you might be able to sell him for firewood?" Dove joked.**

"Gods, even in a movie they're jackasses." Yang said, crossing her arms.

"Agreed." Jaune and Velvet said simultaneously.

" **Look what I found." Velvet said coming up on the campsite.**

" **You're in her seat." Jaune said to Mercury.**

" **Yeah, yeah…"**

" **Now!"**

" **Okay, jeez."**

" **Scarab skeletons. Flesh-eaters." She said as she took her seat between Jaune and Neptune.**

"Isn't that a classification of Grimm?" Ruby said.

"Yeah, it's a species native to Vacuo, if I remember Port's lessons right." Coco said.

"How come we never learned about them?" Weiss asked.

"You would have in your next year." Coco explained. "First year is spent learning about the more common varieties on Remnant; Beowolves, Usras, Nevermores. Second year, you start to learn about the bigger ones, like the Death Stalkers and the King Taijitu, as well as varieties that are specific to certain kingdoms."

" **I found them inside our friends coffin. They can stay alive for years feasting on the flesh of a corpse. Unfortunately for our friend, he was still alive when they started eating him."**

" **So, somebody threw these in with our guy," Jaune said, "and then they slowly ate him alive?**

" _ **Very**_ **slowly."**

" **Well, he certainly wasn't a popular guy, whoever he was." Neptune commented.**

" **Yeah. Probably got a little too frisky with Pharaoh's daughter." Jaune joked.**

 **Velvet chuckled before continuing. "Well, according to my readings, our friend suffered the Hom-Dai, the worst of all Ancient Vacuoan curses, one reserved for only the most evil of blasphemers. In all my research, I've never found an instance of it actually being performed."**

"Well, there's an overdone classic if I've ever heard one." Blake commented.

"Happens that often, huh?" Weiss said.

"Even in your 'romance novels'?" Yang teased.

Blake rolled her eyes before answering. "No, but it is pretty common in the suspense and thriller genres."

" **That bad huh?"**

" **Yes, they feared it so much that they never used it. It's written that if a victim of the Hom-Dai should ever arise, they will bring with them the Ten Plagues of Vacuo."**

 **The mood was silent the rest of the evening until everyone decided to leave and find rest. When Velvet was certain everyone was asleep, she crept over to Ooblecks' tent. The doctor was asleep on his back, his canopic jar in one hand and the book in the other. Carefully, she slipped the book from his hand without waking him, save for a small sigh.**

 **She walked back over to her camp fire and set the book down, before going over to Neptune and searching through his jacket pocket for the key.**

" **That's called stealing, you know." Jaune said, opening one eye. He was asleep by the fire, and held a shotgun in hand.**

"Sheesh, Jaune, you think you could maybe give the gun a little space? Clingy is creepy, ya know?" Yang commented.

"Hey, after everything RNJR went through to get here, I say it's common sense to keep your weapon close." Jaune argued back. "Besides, that is not creepy. You want creepy? You should have seen Ruby on the nights we spent camped out for the night."

"Jaune!"

"Oh, please tell me you have pictures." Yang said mischievously.

"Fortunately for Ruby, no."

"Damn."

"But I do." Nora whispered.

" **According to you and my brother, it's called borrowing." Velvet said.**

" **Thought the** _ **Book of Light**_ **was made out of gold." Jaune said, crawling over next to Velvet.**

" **It is. This is something else." She said as she tried to open the key. "I think this may be the** _ **Book of the Dead.**_ **"**

" **The** _ **Book of the Dead**_ **? Are you sure you wanna be playing around with this thing?"**

" **It's just a book." Velvet said, unlocking it. "No harm ever came from reading a book." She opened the cover and a gust of wind howled by.**

" **That happens a lot around here." Jaune observed.**

"Hint hint!" Blake yelled at the screen.

 **Velvet began reading from the book, speaking in the tongue of Ancient Vacuo. "** _ **'Amun Ra. Amun Dei.**_ **' It speaks of the night and of the day." She continued in Ancient Vacuoan, and as she did her words echoed down the halls into depths of Hamunaptra. The camera focused on the mummy they had discovered. As she finished the chant, the began to move and howled.**

" **NO!" Oobleck yelled as he shocked awake. "You must not read from the book!"**

 **The wind began to move strangely. The camels grunted in agitation, and Neptune was started awake with a grunt. A strange buzzing could be heard in the distance, waking everyone as if from an intense dream. They looked to the horizon and saw a strange mass heading right for them at alarming speed.**

 **They began to run as soon as it broke the perimeter and they saw it was a massive swarm of locusts. Oobleck merely crouched in his tent, the insects crawling all over him and the** _ **Book of the Dead**_ **clutched tightly to his chest.**

" **What have we done?" he said, looking to the heavens.**

"You opened Pandora's Box, just as you humans have done for millennia." Salem commented as Logan returned.

" _Need I remind you that you were human once as well? All that separates you from them is your magic and your immortality."_

"And with those two factors alone, I am nearly a God. Did you do as I asked?"

" _Yes, ma'am. Your order has been placed and will be finished shortly. Until then, please enjoy this drink."_ A large red cup appeared in the cup holder on her right side. She sniffed the straw for any kind of odor. Detecting none, she sipped from the straw. _"Sprite, a favorite of mine."_

* * *

 **Sorry that this one is a bit shorter than the rest. Most of these chapters were written in the span of pretty much a weekend when I had nothing better to do than try out my new word processor on my desktop. This chapter, I just couldn't come up with as much commentary as the others. Bit of a block I'm afraid.**

 **But I did have enough in me to write that little bit about Ozpin being a child, which was fun. I even went back through all the chapters to make sure Ozpin hadn't said anything to make sure it was consistent. And that little bit at the end with Salem. That was fun.**

 **So, I have a question and a rhetorical for you guys. The first is something that just kinda came to me while I was rewatching YouTube videos and it's for all the 40K fans; out of the main cast of heroes and villains, which character would get along best with which Primarchs? Mostly, the pre-Heresy versions, cuz I can totally see Yang and Nora having a blast with Leman Russ, Blake and Corvus Corax bonding over edgy poetry, Ruby and Vulkan being besties around a forge, and Weiss having intellectual conversations with Magnus, while also complaining about their shitty fathers.**

 **The rhetorical is regarding a video game. So, recently, I've gotten back into the remaster of Assassin's Creed 3, and while it looks pretty and shit, the plot is still pretty sub par. Desmond still has the personality of a potato and and Connor even less so. So, I gave up and started on the remaster of Assassin's Creed: Liberation that comes bundled with it. My question to you: how can a remastered game for the PSP look and feel even better than it's companion for the 360 and PS3? How is that even possible? Liberation is _gorgeous_ , I tell you. I haven't gotten very far in it, but it's honestly more fun than the main game.**

 **Next Update: 6/11/19**


	31. Chapter 31- The Mummy, Part 7

**Hey guys, we're back!Sorry if this is a little later than usual. My home internet just was not playing ball this morning.  
**

 **Before I start, I just want to ask that my kind readers not send me anymore movie requests.**

 **And now, on with the show.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 31

 **Team C_DL ran through the catacombs, driven by fear and adrenaline.**

" **Where the hell'd they come from?" Cardin yelled.**

" **I ain't waiting around to find out!" Dove replied.**

 **Sky brought up the rear, followed by several workers. He tripped on a rock jutting up from the floor and fell hard enough to knock his glasses off. As he searched for the keys to his sight, the diggers ran past him and Mercury rounded the corner. He ran past Sky and accidentally stepped on his glasses, crushing them with an audible crack. If he heard it, he obviously didn't care, for he simply kept running. Sky however, did.**

"Too use your vernacular, Ms. Xiao Long," Glynda said, pushing her glasses up her nose, "That was a dick move." All the students looked to Glynda with wide eyes. "What? I can cuss as well as any of you."

"Better, probably." Qrow chimed in. "You should have seen her back in the old days. Goodwitch was a damned legend."

"'The Good Witch with a Foul Mouth' we used to call her." Tai said, reminiscing fondly of his Beacon days.

 **He managed to find the shattered spectacles, putting them on to find they no longer had the corrective lenses in them, thus rendering them useless. He squinted in a futile attempt to see as he groped his way down the hall, keeping one arm stretched out in front of him, while the other stayed against the nearest wall. He heard noises and movement off to his right.**

" **Who's there?" he said. When no one answered, he turned and drew his handgun. "Who's there!?" he repeated with more terror in his voice. Behind him, a humanoid shadow walked through the light at the end of the hall.**

"Oh great, frightened blind man with a gun. No way this can go horribly wrong." Blake said.

 **Functionally, he was blind without his glasses. Normally, his other senses would be boosted to compensate, but he wasn't totally blind so the boost his senses** _ **did**_ **receive was almost negligible. Still, the adrenaline coursing through his body had at least heightened his instincts to know when something was creeping up on him. The downside was that this was kind of a bad thing when said thing that was creeping up on him seemed to be literally EVERYWHERE AT ONCE. He spun around so much he began to feel dizzy.**

 **That all stopped when he knew without a doubt that whatever was out there was standing mere inches from him. He turned slowly, and whatever he saw made him scream in terror.**

"This went from actiony to horror very quickly." Ruby commented.

"And rather well. That's hard to pull off." Blake added.

"And it's not that cringy slasher horror either. Bonus points in my book." Yang added, with Weiss nodding her agreement.

 **Deeper in, Jaune, Velvet, and Neptune were walking down another hallway, with Jaune in the lead with a shotgun and a torch. They turned a corner and were tossed around when the earth began to shake. A mound of dirt began to rise in front of them and soon erupted with hundreds of skittering beetles.**

" **Scarabs!" Velvet yelled, grabbing the boys by their shirts, and pulling them the other direction.**

" **GOGOGO! RUN!" Jaune yelled. He turned and tossed the torch into the swarm, doing little, before unloading a few rounds of buckshot into them. They entered a new chamber and ran down a ramp, Jaune and Neptune jumping onto some pillars off to the side and Velvet to an outcrop in the wall in order to escape. A few scarabs tried to jump for them but were unable to make the jump and fell into the void, with the rest of the swarm just passing them by.**

 **When the storm had passed, Jaune and Neptune looked at where Velvet had taken refuge, only to find it completely barren.**

" **Velvet?" Jaune said, confused.**

" **Velvs?" Neptune was more worried.**

"Ah, the classic trap door." Sun joked.

"Mmm, it's a little overplayed nowadays." Blake commented.

"Are you suddenly a film critic or something?"

"Just making observations using my literary knowledge as a base. And no, Yang, not that kind of literature." She added as Yang opened her mouth.

 **The rumble of stone heralded Velvet's re-emergence into an unknown section of the ruins. Giving the hidden door no mind, she looked around. She was in some kind of antechamber-**

 **And that was as far as she got when she heard somebody moaning behind her. She looked around the pillar she was leaning on and saw Sky, standing in the middle of the chamber with his back to her.**

" **Oh, Mr. Lark." Velvet sighed in relief, "Thank goodness. I was just starting to get scared." She moved to turn him around and was horrified to see his eyes were nothing more than bloody sockets.**

" **My eyes. My eyes!" he slurred, something was wrong with his mouth.**

"Holy fuck!" Yang yelled.

"What happened to him?" Ruby gasped, grabbing hold of Weiss.

"I don't think I want to know…" Weiss answered, subconsciously wrapping her arms comfortingly around her partner.

 **She screamed and turned around to see the mummy they had uncovered, walking out from the shadows. She looked at its' face and saw that it had brown eyes and a fresh tongue. And that answered her questions about Sky's speech.**

"Well, that's one question answered." Weiss said.

"Only 50 billion left!" Ruby said.

 **Sky fell over as Velvet instinctually began backing away from the creature, her every Faunus instinct telling her to run, but her body only partially able to respond. She backed into a wall, and the creature regarded her, looking her up and down. She noticed Sky crawling away behind him.**

" **Please help me." She whimpered calmly.**

" **My tongue. He took my tongue!" Sky sobbed.**

" **Please don't leave me…"**

 **The corpse looked at her, his gaze twisting into a look of confusion.**

 ** _"_ _Salem?"_ it said.**

"Ozpin?" Glynda said.

"Now he says he's definitely not coming out." Oscar said. 'Wish I could join him.'

'Ozma did that?' Salem thought to herself, 'I think I'm starting to like this version of him.'

 **On the other side of the wall, Jaune was bashing the wall with the butt of his shotgun.**

" **Damn it!" he said when nothing gave way and he started inspecting the rudimentary door frame. "Trap door. Must be a switch or something around here someplace."**

 **Suddenly, Cardin and Dove came running back into the room, followed by a digger and the familiar chittering of the scarab horde.**

" **Run, you sons of bitches, run!" Cardin yelled.**

" **Go." Jaune said, sending Neptune into flight.**

 **Unfortunately, the digger tripped and fell onto the ramp and was immediately swarmed by the scarabs. His screams were brief. When the insects finally left him, all that remained was a steaming pile of meat and bone.**

"Great, even more nightmare fuel." Torchwick commented.

"Remind me to never let us go to Vacuo." Neo signed. She flipped over her sign. "Ever."

 **Velvet tried to escape the mummy, but he just moved everywhere she did, cutting her off at every chance she tried to take.**

 **"** _ **Come with me, my Princess Salem."**_ **It said in the Ancient Tongue.**

 **Jaune ran by the entrance to the antechamber, but doubled back when he saw her.**

 **"There you are! Will you quit playing hide and seek?" he said running up to her and grabbing her hand. "Come on. Let's get out of here." When she didn't move, he looked at where she was staring and saw it. "WOAH!" he almost dropped his shotgun.**

 **"Velvet?" Neptune yelled as he, Cardin and Dove ran into the chamber, but skidded to a stop when they saw the walking corpse. The corpse turned back to Jaune and roared at him, making Velvet yelp in fright. Jaune simply yelled back at it and pumped it full of lead.**

 **"Move! He said, pushing Velvet into motion.**

 **"Right!" Neptune said, following suit. As they left, the corpse recovered and saw them leave.**

"Oh, gross!" Ruby whined, covering her eyes.

"Aw, come on, man!" Nora did the same.

"Some close-ups are just not needed!" Yang complained, blocking the screen with her hand.

 **The group reached the surface, only to be met by the bandits from the previous night. They cocked their guns and pointed them at them. One of them, who stood nest to Dr. Oobleck, who still clutched the** _ **Book of the Dead**_ **in his arms, walked forward and pulled down their mask to reveal Blake.**

 **"I told you to leave or die." She said, "You refused. Now you may have killed us all, for you have unleashed a creature we have feared for more than 3,000 years."**

 **"Relax, I got him." Jaune said.**

 **"No mortal weapon can kill this creature." Blake said, growing irritated. "He is not of this world."**

"Listen to the scary Faunus lady, me." Jaune whispered. He was beginning to put together how this would go, and wasn't liking it.

 **A pair of her men carried Sky in and laid him at the feet of Cardin and Dove. He groaned as the men took him into their arms.**

 **"Fucking animals." Cardin said, fury burning in his eyes.**

 **"What did you do to him?" Dove demanded.**

 **"We saved him!" Blake said, ignoring the racist remark. "Saved him before the creature could finish his work. Now leave, all of you, quickly, before he finishes you all." She ordered her men in Faunuspeak, and they began to walk away. "We must now go on the hunt, and try and find a way to kill him."**

 **"I already told you, I got him." Jaune said, not liking being dismissed. Blake stopped and turned to face him, looking him dead in the eye.**

 **"Know this," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, "This creature is the bringer of death. He will never eat, he will never sleep, and he will never stop."**

"Ah, now that is a trope that never gets old." Blake said, "Really gives the situation a bit of weight and importance."

"I don't know." Ilia

 **Mercury was still in the catacombs, revolver drawn and torch behind him, jumping at every shadow he saw, every whisper he heard, every breath of wind that passed by him. He backed up a bit and turned to find the mummy standing before him, causing him to drop his torch with a scream.**

 **He slowly began backing up again, the creature following him, as he reached down his shirt and pulled out a small golden cross.**

 **"May the good Lord protect and watch over me, as a shepherd watches over his flock." he prayed. He saw it wasn't working, so he pulled out several more necklaces bearing different religious symbols. He held up one of a sword piercing a crescent moon and began chanting in modern Vacuoan. "No? Okay." he said, giving up and holding up another one, this time one of the Buddha, and began chanting in Old Animanian. He soon gave up on this one too. His back hit the wall and he tried one more, holding up a six-pointed star and speaking Faunuspeak. This time, the mummy stopped.**

 **"** _ **The language of the slaves…"**_ **it said.**

"Oh, fuck you!" Adam said and threw his drink at the screen.

 **"** _ **You may be of use to me. And the rewards…"**_ **he held up his hand, revealing a small pile of gold rings and coins.** _ **"…Will be great."**_

 **"Oh, my prince…" Mercury said reverently, staring at the treasure.**

 **"** _ **Now,"**_ **Mercury looked up at his new benefactor,** _ **"Where are the other sacred jars!?"**_ **it said angrily.**

 **Up top, the survivors of the expedition ran out of Hamunaptra on their mounts, and as the last one left, a skeletal hand burst from the ground with a roar.**

"That would have been cooler if the special effect on it was better." Yang complained.

"Wow, when did we all get so critical?" Weiss asked.

"Really?" Ruby asked.

"What?"

"Really?"

"Oh, nothing, Pot. My name's Kettle by the way."

* * *

 **Ah, only three chapters left.**

 **So, once again I would like to ask for no more requests for a while.** ** **It takes me months to finish these movies, and I already have an extensive back log with just the Star Wars and Jurassic Park franchises, plus doing the Back to the Future trilogy at some point. I will be throwing in a few stand-alone movies to pad things out, which I have already chosen and cast, but just doing those three franchises could take me years. Hell, I'm only just now realizing that I've been at this consistently for a good eight months and I'm only almost done with three movies.  
****

 ** **One final announcement before we part ways for another week: I can confirm that I will be at RTX Austin this year! I went last year with a friend, and we had such a good time that we've decided to make a tradition of it. So, if you see a really tall, pasty-ass white guy with a beard cosplaying as a male version of either Yang or Blake, feel free to come up and ask if it's me.****

 ** **Remember to Follow, Favorite, and Review, and I will catch you later.****

 ** **Next Update: 6/18/19****


	32. Chapter 32- The Mummy, Part 8

**Hey guys we're back! You know, it might sound a little nuts, but I do get my fair share of hate mail about this story and I will freely admit that it gets to me. I work hard on this thing. It's my baby, and to see people rag on it the way they do is discouraging. But then, every week, when I post a new chapter, I see that slowly up-ticking number of followers and favoriters- just hovering over 750 and 660 respectively- and it becomes just the boost I need to keep going. So thank you all, sincerely.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 32

 **Vacuo was much the same as they had left it what seemed like years ago. Children ran through the streets and people went about their everyday lives, not knowing the terrible power that lay in the sands. The sky however, reflected the mood of the gang; grey, stormy, and foreboding. Jaune led the crew into Fort Shade, the safest place he could think of that he had access to. It was only through his military past, even as a mere mercenary, that the soldiers allowed him entry, happy to give shelter to a warrior.**

" **I thought you said you didn't believe in that fairy tales and hokum stuff." Jaune said as he walked out of Velvet's closet with fistfuls of her clothes in hand. He shoo'd a cat off her suitcase and threw them in.**

" **Well, having an encounter with a 3000 year-old walking, talking corpse does tend to convert one." Velvet said, taking her clothes and putting them back in the closet.**

"This is true." Ruby said, remembering everything she had been told in the past few days, and then what she had seen at Haven.

"Agreed." Her teammates and JNR said simultaneously, thinking along the same lines.

" **Well, forget it." Jaune said, grabbing her night gowns from her dresser and tossing them in the suitcase. "We're out the door, we're down the hall, and we're gone."**

" **Oh, no, we are not." Velvet grabbed her nighties and put them back where they belonged.**

" **Oh, yes, we are." Jaune grabbed a pile of books and threw them in as well.**

" **Oh, no, we are not. We woke him up, and we are going to stop him." Velvet began taking out the books one at a time.**

" **We? What we? We didn't read that book. I told you not to play around with that thing. Didn't I tell you not to play around with that thing?!" Jaune grabbed more books.**

"They're arguing like an old married couple." Coco giggled.

"More like our team when Yatsuhashi or Fox don't put the toilet seat down." Velvet added.

"See, that's a benefit to a unisex team." Ruby said, "Team RWBY never has that problem."

"On Team SSSN, we don't really care." Sun added.

"JNPR, you guys know what we're talking about, right?" Coco asked, looking for any kind of support.

"Nope." Nora replied.

"What?"

"Jaune and Ren were always very considerate when it came to bathroom usage." Pyrrha added.

"I call bullshit."

Jaune turned to look her in the eye. "Coco, do you really think I would have survived seven sisters if I didn't learn very early on to put the seat down?"

"Well, what's Ren's excuse?"

"Nora."

"Shh, movie now." Nora said, growing annoyed.

" **Fine then, me, me, me. I, I, I woke him up and I intend to stop him."**

" **Oh, yeah? How? You heard the cat. No mortal weapons can kill this guy." Jaune moved for the type-writer.**

" **Oh, well, then we are just going to have to find some** _ **im**_ **mortal weapons." Velvet took out the books and took the type-writer from him.**

" **There goes that 'we' again."**

" **Look, will you just listen to me? We have to do something!" Velvet said as she accidentally closed the suitcase on Jaune's hand, causing him to yell in pain. "Once this creature has been reborn, his curse is going to spread until the whole of Remnant is destroyed."**

" **Yeah? And is that my problem?"**

" **Well, it is everyone's problem!"**

" **Velvet, I appreciate you saving my life and all, but when I signed on, I agreed to take you out there and to bring you back. And I have done that. End of job. End of story. Contract terminated!"**

"Wow, wasn't expecting that from you, Vomit Boy." Yang said with surprise.

"I agree. Your actions in the ruins weren't quite so mercenary." Weiss said.

"Then you're naïve." Torchwick said. "His actions from the very beginning were mercenary, albeit his own brand of it. The rabbit saves his life, he owes her, and to pay off his debt, he takes her where she wants to go and brings her back in one piece. Contract fulfilled."

"But a mercenary would prioritize his own life over the life of another."

"Depends on the merc. Everyone has a code of honor, even crooks like me, and each one is different."

" **That's all I am to you? A contract?" Velvet said, putting a little hurt into the words to try and guilt him, but Jaune was having none of that.**

" **Look, you can either tag along with me or you can stay here, and try to save the world. What's it gonna be?" He tried to make it sound like the obvious choice it was, but Velvet was about as stubborn as he was.**

" **I'm staying."**

" **Fine." Jaune said, moving to leave.**

" **Fine." Velvet fired back.**

" **Fine."**

" **Fine."**

" **Fine." Jaune said, as he closed the door, claiming the win with the last word.**

"Mom, Dad, please stop fighting." Sun joked to fill the silence.

 **Down in the bar, guests were mingling about as native music was playing in the background. Port was walking around with a female companion of some sort, but he was far different from the one the gang recognized. He was in some sort of military uniform with a pilot jacket and a long trench coat, and was far removed from his usual jovial, bombastic nature.**

" **I'm the last of the Royal Air Corps stationed out here, you know…" he said with a slight slur as he inadvertently walked into the ground-level fountain. "Some bloody idiot spilled his drink." He let it go and continued with his story, his companion hanging on his every word, a look of sympathy in her eyes, "All the other lads died in the sky and were buried in the sand. Good chaps, every one of them, too." He walked by Jaune, who gave him a short hello and made for the bar.**

"Why is this version of Professor Port so believable?" Weiss said, frustrated.

"Cuz, Ice Queen Jr., it's Pete we're talking about here." Qrow replied.

"The sad part is, you're not even wrong in saying that." Glynda strained to say.

 **Port let his companion go, knowing she had better things to do than listen to an old drunk talk of the glory days, and followed after Jaune.**

" **You know, Arc, ever since the end of the Great War, there hasn't been a single challenge worthy of a man like me." He said as Jaune took a seat next to Neptune, who was looking at the key that had started this whole thing and couldn't help thinking that it was all his fault for stealing it from Jaune in the first place. Seeing who was following Jaune, Neptune stashed the key in his chest pocket.**

" **Yeah? Well, we all got our little problems today, don't we, Pete?" Jaune said as Neptune poured him a shot.**

" **I just wish I could have chucked it in with the others and gone down in flame and glory, instead of sitting around here, rotting of boredom and booze." He took the shot Neptune had poured for himself and downed it. "Oh well, back to the airfield, ha-ha!" he said in his usual tone, clapping the boys on the backs as he left.**

'War guilt.' Winter thought sadly. She had seen it before, not in General Ironwood, but in the older officers, the ones who had survived the Great War and the Faunus Rights Revolution. They all felt the same way; depressed, guilty that their men had died while following their orders. She knew it was stupid to think that way, but what did she know? She had been born in a time of peace, the only threats to humanity being the Grimm. She had never experienced war, so who was she to judge?

 **When he had left, Jaune immediately changed the subject. "So tell me, has your sister always been…"**

" **Oh yeah, always." Neptune cut in, having heard the question a million times before.**

" **Well, we're all packed up, but the damn boat doesn't leave till tomorrow morning." Cardin said as he and Dove came up to the bar.**

" **Tail set firmly between your legs, I see." Neptune said.**

" **Yeah, well, you can talk. You don't have some sacred walking corpse after you."**

" **So, uh, how's your friend?" Jaune asked.**

" **He had his eyes and his tongue ripped out. How would you be?" Dove said with a little venom. Jaune didn't take it personally, knowing he would feel the same in their boots.**

"Could you imagine living like that?" Jaune said, actually feeling sorry for one of his old tormentors, "Being unable to see or taste, possibly even speak?"

 **Up in his room, Sky was doing his best to entertain a rather mysterious guest. He was in his pajamas and a robe, with heavy gauze wrappings covering his eyes. His guest was in heavy robes all over his body and a mask, impractical clothing for a desert climate, but he didn't seem to mind.**

" **I'm so… pleased to meet you." Sky choked out, holding his hand out to be shaken. His host recoiled and a hand grabbed his wrist.**

" **Prince Ozpin does not like to be touched." Mercury told him, moving his arm back. "A silly southern superstition, I'm afraid."**

" **Please, forgive me." Sky said, reaching for some coffee, only to spill it.**

"What are you up to, Merc?" Emerald said, leaning forward, resting her arms on her knees. "What is your angle?"

"Wish I knew." He shrugged.

" **Oops." Mercury said, feigning concern for the blind man. "Mr. Lark, Prince Ozpin thanks you for your hospitality." Sky tried to act humble and shit, but his face dropped at Mercury's next words. "And for your eyes. And your tongue. But I'm afraid more is needed. The prince must finish the job." He backed away from the doomed man. "He must consummate the curse that you and your friends have brought down upon yourselves."**

 **Sky pleaded for mercy as Ozpin removed the mask, revealing a rictus smile.**

 **The boys in the bar toasted their glasses and took a drink, only to spit them out a second later, along with every other patron in the bar.**

" **Gods…" Cardin said, trying to get the taste out of his mouth, "Tastes just like- "**

" **Blood." Jaune finished. He walked to the fountain and saw that it was now pouring out blood.**

"Oh-ho-ho-kay!" Coco laughed nervously, "Yeah, wow! This thing isn't pulling any punches is it?"

"' **And the rivers and waters of Vacuo ran red, and were as blood'." Neptune said, reciting the Bible passage perfectly.**

" **He's here." Jaune whispered, looking around.**

 **Thunder rumbled as Velvet walked outside, reading a book in one hand and carrying another in the other hand.**

" **Oh, Velvet!" Jaune said, running up to her.**

" **Oh, so you're still here, are you?" she said flippantly.**

" **We've got problems." Jaune said with a nervous chuckle.**

 **Thunder rolled overhead again, louder this time, and suddenly fire began falling from the sky. Men and women screamed as they ran for cover. Jaune grabbed Velvet's arm and tried to pull her to somewhere safe, staying under cover from the fireballs, while the soldiers in the courtyard fared far worse, a few being immolated as they scrambled about, others killed by their ammo cooking off. Buildings all over the city were destroyed, and even the great pyramids were not spared.**

 **Mercury hurried down a staircase next to Jaune and Velvet, only to quickly turn around and run back up. Too late, though. Jaune had seen him.**

" **Hey!" Jaune yelled, bounding up the stairs, catching Mercury by the shirt and pinning him to the wall. "Mercury, you little stink-weed, where've you been?" A familiar roaring from upstairs gave Jaune pause, and Mercury took the chance to escape. Jaune drew a revolver and followed the noise to its source, Velvet hot on his heels.**

 **They came to Sky's room to find a dried-up husk of the man in question sitting in his chair, clothing and bandages still on. They looked up and saw Ozpin regenerating himself. He had regained much of his former muscle mass, his skin, while still dried out and wrinkly, covered much more of his body and his face was now far more defined. He roared at the pair when the process ceased.**

"Holy shit!" Yang yelled.

" **We are in serious trouble." Jaune said, utterly amazed and horrified at the same time.**

"Ya think?!"

 **He drew his other revolver as Ozpin approached and unloaded into the undead man, to no effect. Ozpin, his strength enhanced by his curse, shoved Jaune, sending him flying across the room and crashing into Neptune, Cardin, and Dove, who had just entered the room.**

 **Ozpin approached Velvet, speaking in ancient Vacuoan,** _ **"You saved me from the undead. I thank you."**_ **He leaned in for a kiss, but stopped when he heard a note from a piano. He turned and saw a cat walking onto the keys. He roared in horror and summoned a sand tornado to take him away, shutting the doors to the balcony behind him.**

 **Jaune propped himself up and sighed. "We are in very serious trouble."**

"And kinda confused."

"Sun, explain." Weiss ordered.

"Got nothing for you." He answered, genuinely stumped, "I'm as lost as you are."

 **Velvet led the group to the museum she worked at, reasoning that they could find answers, or at the very least information, within.**

" **He does seem to like you, Velvs." Neptune commented,**

" **Yeah, what's that about?" Jaune asked knowingly.**

"Jealous, much?" Nora teased.

" **What's this guy want, anyway?" Cardin asked.**

" **There's only one person I know who can possibly give us any answers." Velvet said, leading them to Ilia's office. They turned a corner into the antiquities room to find Ilia deep in conversation with Blake.**

" **You!" she yelled, her male companions all drawing their weapons and training them on Blake.**

" **Miss Scarlatina." Ilia said calmly. "Gentlemen." She nodded curtly at the boys.**

" **What is she doing here?" Velvet questioned.**

 **Ilia and Blake shared a look. "Do you really want to know, or would you rather just shoot us?"**

" **After what I just saw," Jaune said, putting his gun away, "I'm willing to go on a little faith here."**

"Yay. Critical exposition." Blake said in monotone.

"I do like a good explanation." Jaune agreed.

" **We are part of an ancient secret society." Ilia explained, the conversation having moved to a new room, "For over 3000 years, we have guarded the City of the Dead. We are sworn at adulthood to do any and all in our power to stop the High Priest Ozpin from being reborn into this world."**

"So why did I leave the tribe?" Ilia wondered aloud.

"Not everyone has to be a warrior." Jaune said. "Look at the Atlas military. Sure, they have the single largest military force on Remnant, but there's no way a fighting force that size can operate on soldiers alone. Supplies, weapons, transportation, maintenance for the weapons and transports, food and water, uniforms, training. A military needs so much more than mere soldiers in order to be functional."

"And your point is…"

"My _guess_ is that your character may play some kind of intelligence role. She does necessary research and keeps her ears open for any news of strangers looking for targets of interest. She then relays that info back to the tribe, who decides how to respond."

" **And now, because of you, we have failed." Blake said.**

" **And you think this justifies the killing of innocent people?" Velvet questioned.**

" **To stop this creature? Let me think."**

" **YES." Ilia and Blake said together.**

" **Question." Jaune said, raising a finger, "Why doesn't he like cats?"**

"Maybe it's cuz cats are giant assholes." Yang joked. When Blake slapped her arm, she looked confused. "What? You know I was referring to actual cats."

"You still could have said something." Blake replied.

"And risk sounding like a racist in front of Captain Angst back there? No thank you." She held up her prosthetic arm to indicate who she was referring to.

" **Cats are the guardians of the underworld." Ilia explained, making Blake smile just a bit, "He will fear them until he is fully regenerated."**

" **And then he will fear nothing." Blake finished.**

" **Yeah, and you know how he gets himself fully regenerated?" Dove said.**

" **By finding everyone who opened that chest." Cardin started.**

" **And sucking 'em dry! That's how!" Dove was hysteric with fear, while Cardin was externally calm, trying to be the rock his friend needed.**

" **When I saw him alive at Hamunaptra, he called me Salem." Velvet said, broaching a subject that had been nagging her. "A-and just now in Mr. Lark's quarters, he- he tried to kiss me."**

" **It's because of his love for Salem that he was cursed." Ilia said, looking to Blake, who was leaning over her, "Apparently, even after 3000 years…"**

" **He is still in love with her." Blake finished.**

'Love… is that really what Ozma and I had? It's sometimes hard to remember so long ago, before his betrayal.' Salem thought over a small amount of popcorn. She was surround by every form of theater food available; popcorn, nachos, pretzels, soda, candy. She had pretty much formed a nest out of the stuff, and was going through it methodically.

She found that she enjoyed the combined saltiness and butteriness of the popcorn and the slight crunch upon biting into it. She was nearing the end of her small bag and was trying to decide between mozzarella sticks and pretzel bites as her next dish, leaning towards the former.

" **Yes, well, that's very romantic and all, but what has it got to do with me?"**

" **Perhaps he will once again try to raise her from the dead." Blake suggested to Ilia.**

" **Yes." She agreed. "And it appears he has already chosen his human sacrifice." They looked to Velvet.**

" **Over my dead body." Neptune said angrily.**

"Thanks for having my back, Nep." Velvet thanked the boy.

"A wise man once said, 'family don't end with blood'." He replied.

" **Although, this may give us just the time we need to kill the creature." Ilia mused, a plan slowly coming together in her head.**

" **We will need all the help we can get." Blake said, looking to the sky, "His powers are still growing."**

 **Everyone followed her gazed. The sun was being swallowed in an eclipse.**

" **And he stretched forth his hand toward the heavens, and there was darkness throughout the lands of Vacuo." Neptune said, reciting the Bible again.**

"That is cosmic-level shit right there." Qrow said, a little worried, "How the hell do you beat something that can do that?"

"Magic must defeat magic." Summer said, changing her voice to sound older than she was.

 **Back at the fort, the soldiers manning the ramparts were amazed at this freak cosmological event. The next solar eclipse in Vacuo wasn't predicted to occur for a few years, and a total eclipse in this area was decades away at best.**

" **We must stop him from regenerating." Velvet stated in her room, the adventurers having unofficially decided to make it their temporary base. "Who opened that chest?"**

" **Well, there was me and Dove here." Cardin said. "Oh, and Sky, of course."**

" **There was that historian fella as well." Dove threw in.**

" **What about my buddy Mercury?" Jaune asked.**

" **No, he scrammed out of there before we opened the damn thing." Dove replied.**

" **Yeah, he was the smart one." Cardin chuckled.**

"Finally! Vindication!" Mercury cheered.

"Shut it, coward." Emerald elbowed his ribs.

"I choose life!"

" **Well, that sounds about right." Jaune mused.**

" **Then, we need to find Dr. Oobleck and bring him back to the safety of the fort before the creature can get to him." Velvet said, thinking the plan very obvious.**

 **Jaune agreed. "Right. She stays here. You three, come with me." His version of the plan was met with protests and complaints. Sighing, he turned around, picked Velvet up, throwing her over his shoulder, and deposited her on her bed. He locked the door behind him and grabbed Dove by the collar, bringing them nearly nose-to-nose. "This door doesn't open. She doesn't come out, and no one goes in. Right?"**

" **Right." Dove nodded his head furiously.**

" **Right?" Jaune looked to Cardin who shook his own head. He gave Dove the key and began walking away. "Come on, Neptune."**

" **Oh, uh, I thought I could just stay at the fort- "**

" **Now!"**

" **Right. We're just gonna go fetch the historian guy." He said to C_D_ as he hurried after Jaune.**

"Whipped!" Sun said.

"Fuck off, I am not." Neptune protested.

"You kinda are, kid." Coco agreed.

"I am not!"

Velvet pulled out her scroll and opened an app. She shook her scroll and it made the sound of a whip cracking. Neptune slumped in his chair in defeat.

* * *

 **I'll be honest with you all, I'll be glad when this movie is done. Jurassic Park and Pacific Rim, and now starting on Star Wars, those were all really really fun to write, because I genuinely love those movies. This one has felt like more of a slog than anything else. It was like a chore to get through it, instead of being something I enjoyed. Luckily, there's only two more chapters left after this, so silver lining, I guess.**

 **Also, I've noticed that when folks ask me to do movies and add a suggested cast list, that Neo is a frequent choice. Guys, I like her too, mainly her portrayals in Coeur Al'Aran's stories, but I just can't use her in the films unless the character in question is also mute.**

 **Anyway, tune in next week for the penultimate chapter of The Mummy. Be sure to Follow, Favorite, and Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 6/25/19**


	33. Chapter 33- The Mummy, Part 9

**Alright folks, home stretch.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 33

 **Dr. Oobleck ran through deserted streets, canopic jar in one hand,** _ **The Book of the Dead**_ **in the other. The slightest disturbance gave him pause as he looked for anyone following him. And why shouldn't he? He knew of the supposed 'curse' he and the Valean treasure seekers had unleashed, and after what he had heard happened to Mr. Lark, he was beginning to believe it. And he should, for unbeknownst to him, Ozpin was stalking him through the streets, chasing him in circles, waiting for a chance to make his move.**

 **Mercury, meanwhile, was ransacking the doctor's office, going through everything in his search for the very objects that weren't there and not giving a damn for subtlety.**

" **Well, well, well." Jaune said as he and Neptune walked through the door. "Let me guess. Spring cleaning?"**

"Jaune, you have got some good one-liners in this one." Coco complimented.

"I can be funny if I want to." He replied.

 **Mercury ran for the window, but Jaune cut him off when he threw a chair at his back, knocking him to the floor.**

" **Damn. Nice shot." Neptune said.**

" **Aw, Merc, did you fall down? Here, let me help you up." Jaune said as he picked Mercury up by his collar and slammed him against the wall. "You came back from the desert with a new friend, didn't you, Merc?"**

" **What friend? You are my only friend." Mercury said, poorly trying to play innocent.**

 **Jaune slammed him against a desk on the opposite side of the room. "What the hell are you doing with this creep anyway? Huh? What's in it for you?"**

" **It is better to be the right hand of the devil than in his path. As long as I serve him, I am immune."**

 **Jaune slammed him against a set of cabinets.**

" **Immune from what?" he asked as Mercury shook the stars from his eyes. Mercury responded in a language Jaune didn't recognize. "What was that?"**

" **I don't wanna tell you, you'll just hurt me some more." Mercury said quickly.**

"You're not wrong." Jaune said.

"I don't know if this is the best way to question someone." Weiss said.

"Maybe, but it's definitely the most fun." Yang said with a grin.

"And coolest." Ruby agreed.

"Not to mention a little cathartic, depending on the person." Blake added. Weiss rounded on her with disbelief written on her face. "It was back in my White Fang days." she said quietly.

" **What are you looking for?" Jaune said, moving him to the middle of the room, "And try not to lie to me." Jaune lifted him off the floor, holding his face mere inches from the spinning blades of a ceiling fan.**

"Huh, that's pretty creative." Adam said, surprising even himself that he had said it.

" **The book!" Mercury yelled in terror. "The black book they found at Hamunaptra! He wants it back. He told me it would be worth its weight in gold."**

" **What does he want the book for?" Neptune asked. Jaune lowered Mercury so he could answer.**

" **Oh, come on, I don't know." Jaune shoved him back up. "Something about bringing his dead girlfriend back to life. But that's all. He just wants the book, I swear!" Jaune lowered him. "And your sister. But other than that- "**

 **His words were cut off by a shrieking from outside. Mercury took the chance and sucker-punched Jaune in the gut, then jumped out the window onto the streets. Jaune and Neptune looked out the window he smashed to see the dried up husk of Bartholomew Oobleck lying in the street, the black-robed form of Ozpin looming over him holding the black book under one arm.**

 **He knelt down and took the canopic jar from the corpse's grip and turned to face his pursuers. More of his skin had returned, more defining his features- he actually had something of a nose-, but it was pale and sickly, and still had sizable gaps. He opened his mouth impossibly wide and roared, a swarm of flies issuing forth from him. Jaune and Neptune closed the wooden doors on the window, preventing the insects entry, while the people in the streets had to suffer them.**

" **Well, that's two down, two to go." Jaune said.**

" **Then he'll be coming after Velvet." Neptune finished.**

"Anyone else getting the feeling that the folks who wrote this kinda wrote themselves into a hole?" Velvet asked, receiving a round of affirmatives.

"I'm going to keep watching." Blake disagreed. "This thing is pretty well-written, and I doubt the writers would create that obvious a hole without coming up with a backdoor first."

 **Back at the room, Dove and Cardin were growing bored on guard duty. Cardin was sitting at the table, looking at his canopic jar, while Dove was at the window, passing time by watching the soldiers perform evening drill maneuvers.**

" **To hell with this!" Dove said, slamming his fist on the window sill in frustration, "I'm going downstairs, get myself a drink. You want anything?" he asked Cardin.**

" **Yeah. Yeah, get me a glass of bourbon." He replied absent-mindedly.**

" **All right."**

" **A-and a shot of bourbon." Cardin got up and followed after him, leaving the jar in his chair**

" **Yeah, okay, okay."**

" **And a bourbon chaser!"**

" **Yeah, yeah, I'll get your damn bourbon."**

"I think Cardin may have a drinking problem." Yang joked.

"It's only a problem when you run out." Qrow retorted.

"Tell me he wasn't like this after I died." Summer whispered to Tai, tugging on his shirt.

"He's gotten better, at least." Tai offered, trying to defend his buddy.

" **Don't worry about the door!" he called after his friend, slamming the door shut. They had always been like this, ever since high school. It helped him relax to fall back into old routines. He turned back and saw the jar.** _ **Might as well indulge in those routines**_ **he thought as he fell into a pseudo-ready. He drew his revolver with a flourish and pointed it at the jar. He flipped it forwards, stopping it back in position, then returned it to its holster with another flourish. If he so chose, he easily could have become a professional trick-shooter, like that Oakley woman back in Vale.**

 **Suddenly the wind howled from the open window, making Cardin draw his gun in alarm. He aimed at where the wind came from, but saw nothing. Trusting nothing, he chambered a round and approached cautiously. Looking out, he saw and heard nothing, not even the guards that had been out there mere moments earlier. Thinking everything safe, he lowered the hammer on his revolver.**

 **This lapse of judgement was rewarded when a wave of sand shot into the room with a roar. A full-blown sand storm filled the small room and the shadow of Cardin could be seen being lifted bodily off the ground and shriveled into skin and bones by Ozpin's magic. The storm subsided, and Ozpin stepped into view. His skin was almost fully healed; it was a healthy pigment and covered most of his body, save for a hole in his neck and cheek. His signature silver-grey hair was also present. He looked to the locked door to Velvets room. As he stood there, a scarab beetle skittered out of his neck hole and into his cheek, where he bit down, killing the insect with a crunch and a squeal before he began chewing on it.**

"I'll give them this, this version of Ozpin is fucking creepy." Roman said.

"That's putting it lightly." Neo signed.

 **In her bedroom, Velvet was sleeping soundly, unaware as sand began pouring in through the keyhole, forming a small pile at the base of the door. This sand reformed into the shape of Ozpin, who approached the sleeping rabbit Faunus and sat down next to her. Ozpin regarded her.**

" **Salem." He whispered, before leaning down to kiss Velvet.**

 **This woke her up and she screamed into his lips when she saw him kissing her, and more disgustingly, his skin decaying where their lips met.**

 **Jaune kicked open the doors, Neptune at his side with a small Deringer pistol pointed at Ozpin.**

" **Hey, get your ugly face off her!" Jaune yelled.**

 **Ozpin glared at him, speaking in old Vacuoan and giving Velvet a chance to get away.**

" **Hey, look what I got!" he said, holding up a cat.**

 **His eyes widening in terror, Ozpin summoned another sand devil and made a break for it out the open window.**

 **Seeing the coast was clear, Velvet sat up from behind the bed with a sigh.**

" **You alright?" Jaune asked.**

" **Well, I'm not sure." Neptune answered.**

"My hero." Velvet fake swooned.

"Sorry, Velvet, I'm spoken for." Jaune said, holding up the hand that was clutching Pyrrha's own.

"As are you missy." Coco whispered in her girlfriend's ear, while pinching her face lightly.

 **The trio collected Dove from the bar and quickly made their way to the museum to consult with Ilia and Blake about how to take down Ozpin.**

" **Okay, according to legend," Velvet said as the group walked up a flight of stairs, "The black book that you and your friends found at Hamunaptra is supposed to bring people back from the dead. Until now, I wasn't exactly willing to believe in it."**

" **Believe it, sister. That's what brought our buddy back to life." Jaune deadpanned.**

" **Right. Now, if the black book can bring him to life- "**

" **Then maybe the gold book can kill him." Jaune finished.**

"Ha! Called it!" Blake cheered.

" **That's the working theory." Velvet agreed. "Now we just need to find out where the gold book is hidden." The group rounded a corner and found Ilia knelt before a massive stone with hieroglyphics on it, working on the same notion.**

 **Suddenly, Velvet's rabbit ears twitched. "Do you hear that?" she asked. The men shook their heads, but Blake nodded. The two Faunus ran to a nearby window and saw a harrowing sight outside. The poor citizens of the city were marching on the museum, torches and simple weapons in hand, and their faces marred by injury. They marched almost in unison and were chanting a single word, a name: Ozpin.**

"Dear Gods, what happened to their faces!?" Yang yelled, absolutely grossed out.

" **Last but not least, my favorite plague, boils and sores." Neptune said, not even bothering with the passage.**

" **They have become his slaves." Blake explained, "So it has begun. The beginning of the end."**

" **Not if I have anything to say about it. Come on." Velvet said, rushing back to the stone, Ilia close behind.**

 **Ozpin walked amongst his army, yelling out orders in the ancient tongue. Mercury was close behind, trying his best to keep away from the mindless, hideous slaves. As the army approached the museum, they ran for the door and began slamming it, trying to break it down.**

 **Inside, Velvet and Ilia were translating as fast as they could. Feeling the pressure, Velvet did the only thing she could think of to keep herself calm; talk.**

" **According to Bembridge scholars, the golden** _ **Book of Light**_ **is located in the statue of Anubis…"**

" **That's where we found the black book." Dove said, half-angry, half-scared.**

" **Well, looks like the old boys at Bembridge were mistaken." Neptune said.**

" **Exactly, they mixed up the books. Mixed up where they were buried. So, if the black book was in the statue of Anubis, then the golden book must be…"**

"I'll bet you anything it wasn't an accidental mix-up." Jaune said.

"Are you saying that the Medjai would go that far to keep their secrets hidden?" Ilia said.

"Yeah."

"Using conspiracy as a defense. Not a terrible idea, I suppose." Winter mused.

 **The army of Ozpin cheered as they finally broke the door and stormed in.**

" **Come on, Velvs, work faster." Neptune pressed.**

" **Patience is a virtue." Velvet replied in a sing-song voice.**

" **Not right now it's not!" Jaune threw back.**

"Hey, I was gonna say that." Yang sulked.

" **Uh, I think I'll go ahead and get the car started." Neptune said, running for the rear exit.**

" **I got it!" Velvet said, "The golden book is at Hamunaptra inside the statue of Horus. Take that Bembridge scholars!"**

 **Neptune had reached the front and was mere feet from the car when Ozpin's army began to flood into the street. Thinking fast, Neptune did the only thing he could do; play along.**

" **Ozpin! Ozpin!" he began chanting monotonously, acting as though he was enslaved as they were. Oddly enough, this worked and the mob went from violent and screaming to their previous brain-dead chanting selves, chanting along with him. They passed him by none the wiser, and once they had done so, he turned and ran to the car.**

"Clever boy." Coco said.

"When in doubt, improvise." Neptune said with a shrug.

 **Jaune's group, along with Ilia and Blake, ran out the back shortly after he managed to get the engine to turn over. Having thought ahead, Mercury ran out the front and caught sight of them. He yelled for his master, who stood in the window his prey had so recently occupied and roared, more to intimidate than out of anger.**

" **You're gonna get yours, Merc!" Jaune yelled at his old comrade as the car drove off, "You hear me? You're gonna get yours!"**

" **Oh, like I've never heard that before!" he yelled back.**

"If I had a lien for every time I've heard that yelled at me, I might be able to qu- " Mercury started to say before cutting himself short.

"Might be able to do what, Mercury?" Cinder said threateningly.

"Nothing. Nothing at all. Not a thing." He said quickly, before a whip-cracking sound came from a certain bunny faunus.

 **They sped down the abandoned streets, trying to come with a plan, when suddenly Neptune hits the brakes. The reason why soon became apparent: standing in the headlights and blocking off the street was Ozpin's mindless horde. Seeing no other way, Jaune stepped hard on Neptune's foot, causing him to yell out as he involuntarily slammed on the gas.**

" **Hang on!" Jaune yelled out as they made contact with the horde, mowing down anyone in their path. Most of the slaves- cuz that's what they were at this point, let's be honest- were sent flying when they collided with the car. Soon though, they began to cling to car, making Jaune, Dove, Ilia and Blake fight them off barehanded. Even Velvet got in on it when she poked a man whose eyeball was swollen from infection, popping the organ and causing the man to cry out in agony, and thus setting Jaune up to toss him off the car.**

 **Dove was surprised when a pair of slaves grabbed him from behind and began to pull. He called to Jaune for help, but was too late. The pair pulled him free of the car and onto the street, but he managed to roll through, dropping his coat and drawing his revolvers. He fired left and right, taking down his assailants with every shot until he finally ran dry. Oddly enough, the horde didn't attack him when he did. They instead simply parted, allowing Ozpin to approach with a rictus smile on his face.**

"I think we all know what comes next." Ruby said.

"Mostly bad things." Weiss answered.

"I had better be right about the gold book." Velvet said, just a tad worried.

 **In fear, Dove dropped his weapons. He reached into his coat and pulled out his canopic jar, offering it to Ozpin in the hopes of sparing his life. This turned out to be the incorrect choice as Ozpin did the same to him that he had done to all his compatriots. Mercury stood by, almost unable to watch as Dove Bronzewing was sucked dry and left as little more than beef jerky over a skeleton.**

 **Meanwhile, the car was eventually run off the road and brought to a halt when it ran into a fire hydrant. Water pouring forth, the party of five vacated the wrecked vehicle and ran into the market, the horde hot on their heels. They eventually halted when the group was finally cornered and resumed their chanting. Jaune held a torch before him, trying to keep them at bay while he thought up a plan.**

 **Their chanting eventually receded, and they parted to allow a now whole Ozpin to approach his prey, followed by Mercury.**

" **It's the creature." Ilia said, hiding her horror well, "And he's fully regenerated."**

 **Ozpin spoke in the ancient tongue, his voice normal now that he was whole once more.**

" **Come with me, my princess." Mercury translated, "It is time to make you mine forever."**

" **For all eternity, idiot." Velvet corrected him.**

 **Ozpin spoke again. "Take my hand, and I will spare your friends." Mercury translated.**

"Calling bullshit!" Yang said.

"Seconded." Ruby agreed.

 **Jaune scoffed at the words, not buying such obvious bullshit.**

" **Have you got any bright ideas?" Velvet asked him.**

" **I'm thinking, I'm thinking." He replied, wringing the handle of his torch nervously.**

" **Well, you'd better think of something fast, because if he turns me into a mummy, you're the first one I'm coming after." She said with finality before walking to Ozpin's side.**

" **No." Jaune said, drawing his gun and aiming at Ozpin's head.**

"I'm with Lover Boy on this one." Coco said, "What the hell are you doing babe?"

"Hell if I know."

" **Don't!" Velvet protested. "He still has to take me to Hamunaptra to perform the ritual."**

" **She is right." Blake said, trying to force his gun arm down. "Live today, fight tomorrow."**

"Tactical stalling." Jaune said, recognizing the strategy.

"I don't like it." Coco said stubbornly.

 **Reluctantly, Jaune lowered his gun and glowered at Ozpin.**

" **I'll be seeing you again." He said, pointing his torch at Ozpin.**

 **Ozpin smiled and began leading Velvet away. Mercury, however, went up to Neptune and began going through his pockets.**

" **Hey!" Neptune protested "Hands off!"**

 **Mercury stepped back with the key in hand. "Thanks." He said.**

" _ **Kill them all!"**_ **Ozpin yelled, making Velvet start to fight a losing battle against his grip.**

"There it is." Blake said, having been waiting for the other shoe to drop.

" **See ya, pal!" Mercury said, as he scurried after his patron.**

 **As the horde closed in, Jaune looked down and saw a way out, if not an altogether pleasant one; a sewer grate. He tossed the torch aside and removed the cover. He motioned for Neptune and Blake to go in first, promising Neptune that they would be going after Velvet. Ilia, meanwhile, drew a sword and began cutting down the slaves.**

" **Come on!" Jaune yelled once Blake was in.**

" **Go!" Ilia insisted before turning back to her bloody work.**

 **With a growl, Jaune jumped in, and mere moments later, Ilia was overwhelmed by the horde. She fought as best she could, but ultimately died screaming.**

"While I do not like the fact that I've died yet again in one of these, let it not be said I didn't go down swingin'." Ilia said proudly.

"And you played a bigger role this time." Blake pointed out. "Last time, I don't think you had a single line."

"Looked like a bad ass, though." Sun said.

* * *

 **Okay, next week will be the finale.**

 **I know I said it last week, but I'll say it once more: this movie was a bitch to write. Thankfully, Star Wars is easier. Already four chapters in on that one.**

 **So, I do want to take some time to address some concerns I've seen in a few reviews. Mainly about this story being in violation of site rules. Honestly, I won't feel too bad if this story gets taken down. I started it on a whim, to see if I could put out something enjoyable and help me grow as a writer. I believe I have succeeded on both points. Someday I may set this particular project aside in favor of another, but until then, you're all stuck with me.**

 **In RTX news, my schedule is set, my Guy Yang cosplay is ready, but my Male Blake cosplay is hitting several snags. Most of the parts for it I ordered have yet to arrive, but I should be able to do something so long as my wig arrives in the next few days.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite, and Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 7/2/19**


	34. Chapter 34- The Mummy, Finale

**I think we can call it official folks, I am now the newest target of Critics United, this site's self-declared volunteer police. I'll fight them to the bitter end, but if this story winds up disappearing in the near future, you know why.**

 **On a happier note, here's the finale for The Mummy!**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 34

 **The next morning, Jaune, Neptune and Blake drove into a desert airfield, having reclaimed their car a few hours after they lost Velvet. A pair of local boys saluted them as they entered, another local lad raising the barrier for them. Port sat on a hill nearby, drinking tea under an umbrella and listening to Valean jazz.**

" **Morning, Pete." Jaune said as the trio approached. "Uh, a word, if you don't mind?"**

" **So what's your little problem got to do with His Majesty's Royal Air Corps?" Port asked, sounding infinitely better than last the group had seen him.**

"When was the last time Vale had a King or an army?" Ruby asked.

"Not since the Great War." Winter answered. "It is the same with most other nations as well."

"With one rather large exception." Glynda muttered.

" **Not a damn thing." Jaune said bluntly. This caught Port's attention, and he put down his tea.**

" **Is it dangerous?" he asked, trying to hide his eagerness.**

" **Well, you probably won't live through it." Jaune said honestly.**

" **By the Gods, do you think so?"**

" **Well, everybody else we've bumped into has died, why not you?" Neptune joked. Nobody laughed.**

" **Well, well, well then." Port stood up, his familiar bravado coming to the fore, "What's the challenge?"**

" **Rescue the damsel in distress, kill the bad guy, save the world." Jaune said.**

 **Port began to laugh. "Well, then, Peter Port at your service, sir. Ho ho!"**

"There's the Peter we know and love." Tai said with a grin.

"Eh…" The Beacon students said simultaneously, making a so-so sign with their hands.

 **The next thing the trio knew, they were loaded into an old fighter plane and were currently soaring low over the desert. Port was piloting, of course, while Jaune took the gunner position. Jaune looked to his right and whistled.**

" **Are you alright?" he asked the man strapped there.**

" **DO I FUCKING LOOK OKAY?!" Neptune yelled back at him.**

"I don't know what other me is talking about, that looks fun!" Neptune said with wide eyes.

"Second that emotion." Sun agreed.

"Easy to say when you guys have Aura, but he probably doesn't." Weiss said.

 **Taking that as a yes, he turned to the other side and whistled again.**

" **How ya doing?"**

 **Blake's face said it all, as she was grinning ear-to-ear. She had never even seen a plane before, much less ridden one, her world being a far simpler one, one focused on the old traditions and separated from the technology of the modern world.**

 **Nearby, a sand devil was rampaging across the open desert. Port gained Jaune's attention and pointed at it.**

" **See that? I've never seen one so big." He yelled to Jaune.**

" **Never?" Jaune asked back, growing concerned.**

" **No." Port replied before steering the plane towards Hamunaptra.**

"Really?" Coco said, "No one's gonna jump on that?"

"Too easy." Sun said.

"Yang?" she looked to the blonde to see her entire team covering her mouth, preventing her from making the obvious joke, and the same happening with Team JNPR and Nora. Qrow also felt the compulsion, but he could feel the death glare Summer was aiming at him if he so much as considered it.

 **Meanwhile, Velvet and Mercury were thrown from the sand devil, landing in a soft dune which broke their falls.**

" **I need a new job." Mercury said, as Velvet screamed at him to get off her, while crawling away.**

 **The sand devil slowly died down and formed into the black-robed form of Ozpin. He walked down the dune past Velvet and Mercury, who both turned and saw their destination in the distance.**

" **Oh my Gods." Velvet muttered, seeing the ruins of Hamunaptra. "We're back."**

 **Ozpin looked up and saw the plane circling above. Velvet saw it too, knowing that Jaune had come for her, and while she smiled, Ozpin scowled. Such a nuisance.**

"Man, bun-bun, you have fallen hard for this Jaune." Coco said.

"I know, right?" Mercury complained, "All this lovey-dovey crap is making me physically ill."

 **He reached out with his powers, and the Earth beneath them began to crack before a wall of sand rose up before them and began to chase the plane.**

'Interesting. If I ever gain control of another Maiden, this is a power we should try to replicate.' Salem thought, munching on her mozzarella sticks. She had apparently developed a taste for cheese since trying this 'theater food'.

" **Oh my Gods." Jaune said, seeing the wall from his rearward-facing position. "Hey, Pete! Pedal faster!"**

 **Port saw the coming threat in a rearview mirror, and called out for everyone to hold on before putting the plane into a dive. The propeller screamed as they went over a cliff and skimmed over the ground, the wall hot on their heels.**

 **Ozpin's face soon appeared in the wall, smiling victoriously.**

"Okay, I say again, fucking creepy." Roman said.

 **In defiance, Jaune began unloading the fixed .30 caliber machine gun into the face, to no avail. Ozpin roared and the sand wall overtook the plane.**

" **Stop it!" Velvet protested. "You'll kill them!"**

" **That's the idea." Mercury said as Ozpin focused on the task before him, which required his full concentration.**

 **Inside the storm, Blake and Neptune were screaming their asses off on the wings, Jaune was busy trying not to faint from blood loss from the multiple Gs he was pulling, and Port was laughing madly.**

" **Here I come, laddies!" he yelled with a maniacal laugh.**

 **Velvet knew she need to break Ozpin's concentration somehow, and despite her reservations on it, did the first thing she could think of: she grabbed Ozpin and drew him into a kiss, turning him bodily away from his task to make sure he couldn't focus.**

"Clever girl." Qrow said.

"Did you just quote yourself from another movie?" Tai asked with a groan.

"Yes, I did, because it was a damn good line."

"He's got you there, honey." Summer said.

 **It had the desired effect, as the sand wall dissipated almost immediately, but the plane was too far gone. It spun out of control, the engine blazing, and crashed behind another dune with a small explosion.**

 **Thankfully for Velvet, who believed her saviors were all dead, the heroic trio managed to survive the impact. Blake managed to stumble to her feet, while awkwardly fell out of his gunner' spot. Neptune, however, was stuck strapped upside down to the wing and was yelling for someone to cut him down. As Jaune did so, Blake walked over to the .30-cal and removed it. She believed it was still operational and knew that they would need all the firepower they could get.**

" **Peter!" Jaune called out to their pilot. "Hey, Pete!" he knelt beside the pilot and knew almost instantly; he had died on impact. He checked the man's pulse just to be sure, and the lack of it sealed it. Peter Port had gotten his heroic death. He looked to Neptune sadly, and jumped back when the fuselage began to sink into the ground.**

" **Quick sand!" Neptune yelled, pulling Jaune back.**

 **The trio retreated a few feet and watched the plane sink into the desert, Jaune giving a final salute as the tail fell from sight. He then picked up his gun bag and led the way to Hamunaptra, Blake bringing up the rear with the .30-cal on her shoulder. They had lost a lot of the time they had gained, and they had a job to do.**

 **Inside the ruins, Ozpin led Velvet and Mercury down to the ritual chamber he had used all those centuries ago. Mercury held a gun on her and ordered her to keep moving.**

" **You know," Velvet said, taking advantage of her quickly dwindling importance to talk back, "Nasty little dickheads like you always get their comeuppance."**

 **Mercury laughed at her for a bit before he noticed how serious her expression was and his smile faltered somewhat. "They do?"**

" **Oh yeah." She said with a nasty grin. "Always." She walked off, leaving him behind and not a little bit afraid for his own skin.**

"Gods dammit, I'm gonna die again, aren't I?" Mercury complained.

"It does seem to be a theme with you." Cinder nodded.

 **Blake and Jaune were busy removing rubble from a side passage, while Neptune stood behind them with the torch being entirely not helpful.**

" **Better get those bigger stones first. And take them from the top, otherwise the whole thing will come down on us. Come on, put your backs into it." Jaune and Blake simultaneously turned and glared at him. "Right, well, you've got the idea, I guess."**

 **He turned and saw some form of sun mural on the wall with scarab jewels on it. Attracted to shiny objects like the child he was, he easily plucked one from the wall.**

"Hey, Nep, ever hear of instant karma?" Sun laughed while Neptune groaned, knowing what was about to happen.

" **Hey, guys, come check this out." He said, as he admired the jewel in his palm. Suddenly, a live scarab broke free from the shell and began burrowing up his arm. He yelled in terror, catching Jaune's attention. He ripped off Neptune's shirt, to show a bulge traveling along his shoulder.**

" **Whoa!" Jaune yelled, "Hold him." He told Blake, who immediately pinned his arms behind his back while Jaune pulled out a switch blade. Neptune screamed as Jaune semi-carefully dug the scarab out of his shoulder and threw it several feet with a flick of his knife. It landed on its' back and quickly scurried at them, but Jaune calmly drew a revolver and blew it the fuck up.**

 **The gunshot echoed and caught the attention to Ozpin , who was trying to organize the ritual. He quickly tipped a jar of dust into his hand and blew it at a nearby wall, muttering an incantation. Groans could be heard from behind the wall and soon the stone began to crack. Suddenly, the mummified human carvings on said wall tore themselves from the stone and began shambling towards Ozpin.**

" **Bembridge scholars never wrote about this." Velvet said, amazed and horrified at the same time.**

 **They stopped short of Ozpin and bowed to him. He returned the bow and set them to task.**

" _ **Kill them,"**_ **he said, pointing back the way he had come,** _ **"And wake the others."**_

 **Jaune led his team deeper into the ruins, shotgun in hand. He dropped into a wide chamber, Blake behind him, and noticed one of the** _ **ancient**_ **mirrors nearby. The sun was shining directly on it, but it was misaligned. He drew a revolver and shot the rim. It turned a few times before stopping in the proper place, illuminating the room.**

 **It was more vast than they had thought and was filled with gold and jewels. Seems the Hamunaptra myth was proving truer by the minute. Now all they had to worry about was touching the wrong thing and burying themselves alive.**

" **Can you see…" Neptune said, amazed how the treasure.**

" **Yeah." Jaune said.**

" **Can you believe…"**

" **Yeah."**

 **"Can we just…"**

" **No."**

 **They heard a strange noise behind them and all three whirled around, guns at the ready. More mummies were pulling themselves out of the ground.**

" **Who the hell are these guys?" Jaune asked.**

"I assume, these are the 'others' Ozpin mentioned?" Yang said.

"Safe bet." Blake confirmed.

" **Priests." Blake said, grimly, "Ozpin's priests."**

" **Alright then." Jaune said before opening fire on the priests, Blake following suit with the .30-cal slung over her shoulders and Neptune firing his own gun. When that ran dry, he grab Jaune's revolvers from their holsters and, ignoring the pain in his shoulder, fired at fast as he could. Soon though, Jaune and Neptune ran dry and the hoard kept coming. Blake still had ammo, but it wasn't enough to hold them back. Jaune grabbed her back and led them away. Mercury ran up as they ran and then noticed the treasure, the little wheels in his head turning in a more selfish direction.**

 **Velvet awoke to find herself chained to a stone slab, canopic jars on her left. She felt a weight on her stomach. She gasped when she saw the rat crawling on her and screamed when she turned to get rid of it and saw a mummified corpse to her right.**

 **Jaune and Blake brought up the rear as the trio ran down a tunnel, firing at the horde chasing them.**

"Good idea." Jaune commented. "They lured them into a bottleneck where they can neutralize the enemy's numbers advantage and maximize their own firepower."

" **There he is!" Neptune said as he ran out of the tunnel into a new chamber. Inside stood a statue of a seated man with the head of a falcon. "What's up, Horus?"**

 **By the time Jaune and Blake joined him, Blake had run out of ammo. So, Jaune handed her the shotgun and began rummaging through his pockets, pulling out a stick of dynamite. He used Blake's cheek to strike a match and lit the fuse.**

"How does that even work?" Blake asked.

"Seriously." Yang agreed, "I mean I would get it if he had done it on Dad or Uncle Qrow, their beards would help, but you're as clean shaven as they come." Sun did his best to resist the carpet-drapes joke, but it was so god damned hard.

"So are you saying the carpet and the drapes don't match?" Coco teased to Sun's immense relief.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Yang shot back.

'I wouldn't mind…' Ilia admitted to herself.

" **Time to close the door." Jaune said before throwing the dynamite into the doorway. The trio took cover behind the statue and only came out after the sound of shrapnel raining ceased.**

"I think it worked." Yang joked, which everyone groaned at.

 **A group of priests returned to the ritual chamber and encircled the slab Velvet was laying chained to. They fell to their knees and repeatedly bowed to it. Ozpin walked up with the black book in hand and set it on the podium next to the slab. He looked at the corpse next to Velvet and lovingly caressed its head. He unlocked the book and put the key in his robes. Velvet cried out for help, knowing that the end was close.**

 **As Jaune and Neptune tried to pry open the compartment they had found at the base of the statue, Blake stood of to the side reloading the shotgun. They heard more groans coming from down the hall, indicating that they would soon have company.**

" **Damn, these guys just don't quit, do they?" Jaune grunted.**

 **Blake cocked the shotgun. "Keep digging." She said, walking to the corridor.**

 **Outside, Mercury had loaded a bag full to bursting with treasure onto the back of a camel he had managed to lure over. It groaned as it felt the full weight of the bag on his back and Mercury panted from the work. He admired a small circular box- a jewelry box of some kind, perhaps- and thought about whether he should go back for more.**

"Can anyone say set for life?" Mercury preened.

"Making a lot of assumptions here, kid." Roman commented.

"Like the one where you survive all of this." Emerald added.

 **Inside, Jaune and Neptune had finally managed to remove the panel and pulled out a wooden box. Hurriedly, the opened it and removed the cloth wrapping to reveal the** _ **Book of Light**_ **in all its solid gold glory. Meanwhile, Blake unloaded the shotgun down the hallway, cutting down the mummies with every shot until she ran out.**

 **She turned back to the men. "Save the girl. Kill the creature." She said, dropping the shotgun and drawing a sword, before barreling into the hoard, slashing left and right. Neptune grabbed the book while Jaune grabbed his gun bag and drew another stick of dynamite. He lit the fuse and pulled Neptune to an outcrop in the wall. Blake continued to hack away at the horde, yelling at them to get out. Not ones to look a gift horse in the mouth, Neptune dived into the outcrop as Jaune threw the dynamite into another outcrop further down the wall. He dived into cover as the wall exploded, creating a new doorway for them and wiping out a few mummies that had made it past Blake.**

" **You alright?" Jaune asked. Neptune nodded and Jaune pulled him through the fresh opening.**

 **In the ritual chamber, the mummified priests chanted in the Ancient Tongue as Ozpin read from the black book. Looking up, he and Velvet saw the nearby pool of whatever the fuck it was- it looked like tar- begin to ripple as the same ghost from the beginning rose up from within and flew into Salem's corpse. It shrieked as new life was breathed into it and looked over at Velvet, who screamed her lungs out in terror.**

" _ **With your death,"**_ **Ozpin said, raising a dagger over his head,** _ **"Salem shall live. And I, shall be invincible!"**_

" **The** _ **Book of Light**_ **!" Neptune shouted from atop the staircase, holding the book over his head. "I found it, Velvs, I found it."**

 **Seeing the threat to himself and the potential boon to his plans, Ozpin set down the dagger and made his way confidently to Neptune.**

" **Shut up and get me off here, Nep!" Velvet said. "No, wait, open the book! It's the only way to kill him. You have to open the book and find the inscription." Unbeknownst to everyone, Jaune carefully removed a sword from the hands of a statue nearby.**

" **I can't get it open, Velvs! Damn thing must be locked or something." he looked at the cover and saw the familiar lock. "We need the key!"**

" **It's in his robes!"**

 **Jaune took the distraction to jump off a piece of rubble and start slashing away at the priests, after cutting one of Velvet's chains, of course. Ozpin order them to kill him, but it mattered little. They were priests, not warriors, and Jaune cut them down easily.**

 **Since he had no formal sword training, he resorted to a simple hack n' slash style, combined with his bareknuckle brawling. Seeing that his foes had been dispatched, he decided to grand stand a little.**

" **Mummies." He joked to Velvet, making ready to cut her other arm free, when he was pulled backwards off his feet.**

"I'll say it again, Lover Boy, really good one-liners here." Coco said.

 **Landing on his chest, he looked back and saw one of the mummies he had cut in half gripping onto his ankles. He reached for his sword, but another one grabbed him from behind, holding him in place while a third walked over with a large boulder, the plan clear as day: death by crushing.**

 **Jaune struggled against the one wrapped around his neck when he noticed a severed arm crawling towards his sword. Thinking quickly, he waited until the arm grabbed the sword, then he grabbed the arm and used it to slash the legs of the one with the boulder. The results were… predictable.**

 **Elsewhere, Neptune was busy trying to translate what he could from the cover of the golden book.**

" **Here's something. Rashim- rashimulu- Rashimulu kashka!" he said happily. His smile instantly flipped when he heard chanting coming from a hallway. From the hallway came a squad of ten more mummies, all clearly warriors based on the arms and armor they wore. Neptune facepalmed while Ozpin smiled at his luck.**

"Man, anyone else get Beacon flashbacks?" Coco said.

"You have got to be kidding me." Sun said.

"Taking that as a yes."

" **Oh yeah," June chuckled, "This just keeps getting better and better." He backed away with his sword at the ready, keeping Velvet behind him.**

" **Do something, Nep." Velvet said.**

" **Me?"**

" **You can command them."**

" **I call bullshit."**

" **Finish the inscription on the cover, idiot. Then you can control them!"**

"No offense, buddy- " Sun said.

"Some taken right off the bat." Neptune interjected.

"But putting the lives of your sister and what looks to be your future brother-in-law in your hands seems like a bad idea."

"Actually, that's fair. This Neptune seems like a damned idiot." His friend said.

 **The warriors advanced slowly, weapons ready and shields raised. The mummified Salem appeared behind Velvet and growled as best she could before slashing at her with the dagger. She missed as Velvet managed to jump out of the way. Ozpin took advantage and ordered the warriors to kill Jaune. A trio of the warriors jumped over the pool and stood before Jaune. He yelled at them in defiance until he ran out of breath. The warriors roared back, their mouths stretching unnaturally large.**

" **Uh-uh." Jaune said before disengaging. He wasn't running or retreating. No, that would be a coward's move. He was simply disengaging to find a better place to fight, preferably on the other side of the room. The warriors followed him without missing a beat.**

 **Meanwhile, Velvet remained in the room, running from the shrieking form of Salem, and doing a fair job of it.**

" **Hurry up, Neptune!" she yelled out desperately.**

 **Jaune ran for a rope tied to a wall, grabbed hold of it and cut it. It pulled him up and dropped a weighted cage on one of the skeleton warriors, crushing it.**

"Jaune, are you taking notes?" Nora said looking at her leader.

"Yeah, I am. These are some pretty clever tricks and they just might prove useful someday."

"Well, we can't fault him for wanting personal growth." Ren shrugged, while Pyrrha was silently proud of him.

 **Seeing he had escaped, he ran down another hallway. A roar was heard from within, and shortly thereafter, Jaune ran back out, followed by another trio of warriors.**

 **He ran down the staircase, unaware that the warriors by-passed the stairs by crawling on the walls. When he reached the bottom, he turned and sighed in relief at the lack of enemies behind him, only to turn back around and see five of them in front of him. With a yelp he brought his sword up, parried a few blows and cut the head off one of the warriors.**

 **Somewhere in the ritual chamber, Neptune had almost finished his translation. But…**

" **I can't figure out this last symbol!" he yelled to Velvet.**

" **What does it look like?" Velvet yelled back, before rounding a corner into the grip of Salem. The corpse grabbed her by the throat and held the dagger high, but Velvet held her wrist to keep it at bay.**

"Symbols?" Weiss looked to Sun for an explanation, but it instead came from Glynda.

"The Ancient Tongue of Vacuo was originally a symbolic language, Ms. Schnee. The different pictographs had different meanings depending on how they were combined." She explained.

 **Jaune was holding his own against the skeletons. He had taken position on a platform in another pool that was just big enough that he only had to deal with a single opponent at a time. A new foe had landed before him, drawing his attention away from the foe who had worked his way behind him. He managed to bring his current foe to his knees and raised his sword to deliver the final blow. As he did, he stabbed the opponent behind him in the head and slashed down into his primary foe. Seeing the extra weight on his sword, he looked back and saw the decapitated corpse waving it's arms around. He kicked his first foe into the water, turned and cut the second one in half.**

" **It's a bird. A stork!" Neptune said.**

 **Jaune was knocked on his ass by a powerful blow. He grabbed a torch and set his opponent on fire.**

 **Velvet struggled to get the word out as Salem continued strangling her and she kept the mummy's arm in place. "A- Ahmenophus!" she choked out.**

" **Ah, ah, hutashim ahmenophus!" Neptune yelled out as the remaining skeleton warriors made the final strike all together. They stopped just short, most of the weapons poking Jaune in the face. For some reason they stepped back and stood at the ready.**

" _ **Destroy him!"**_ **Ozpin ordered. The skeletons refused to move.** _ **"Destroy him! I command you to destroy him!"**_

 **Neptune saw Salem slashing at Velvet's midsection and thought up the first command he could think in the Old Tongue. "Fakushka Salem!"**

"Wha?" Ruby said since there weren't any subtitles and nobody on screen translated it for her.

"Kill Salem." Sun said. "More or less."

" _ **Salem!"**_ **Ozpin turned to Neptune,** _ **"Give me that book."**_ **He growled as Neptune dropped the book and slid it away from himself with his foot. But he was too late. The warriors raised their weapons and marched over to Salem, laying into her without pause nor mercy. Ozpin's face contorted in anger and he grabbed Neptune by the throat.** _ **"Now you die."**_

 **Jaune took the chance to come at Ozpin with a sword and cut his arm off just above the elbow. Neptune hit the floor with the arm still gripping his neck. Ozpin looked down at his stump, then back at Jaune. He grabbed him and threw him ten feet across the room with inhuman strength. His simply reattached his arm as he walked over to Jaune and did it again.**

 **Neptune returned to his feet. "Velvs, I got it!" he said, holding up the key.**

"Alright, I've give that some credit." Emerald said with a small amount of applause.

" **Keep him busy!" Velvet said as she ran up to her brother, who held up the book as she unlocked it and began to leaf through the golden plates.**

 **Jaune screamed as he flew across the room again and impacted on a wall before hitting the floor.**

" **No problem." He groaned before Ozpin picked him up and threw him again.**

" **Hurry Velvet, hurry!" Neptune said.**

" **You're not helping." She replied in a nervous sing-song voice.**

 **Ozpin lifted Jaune up by the neck.** _ **"Now it's your turn."**_ **He whispered before he began to open his mouth to suck Jaune dry.**

" **I've got it!" Velvet said, reading from the book,** _ **"Kadishmal, kadishman, paraduce, paraduce."**_

 **A whip cracked and a spectral chariot was seen racing down the stairs toward Ozpin. He threw Jaune aside and cried out as the chariot made contact with him. A spectral version of Ozpin could be seen in the back of the chariot trying to escape as it raced off back up the stairs. Ozpin chased after it, shouting in the Old Tongue.**

" **I thought you said it was gonna kill him." Jaune said, rubbing his throat as he scooped up a sword.**

 **Ozpin came at them, but was stopped when he heard the sound of metal piercing flesh. He looked down and knew something was wrong.**

" **He's mortal." Velvet said.**

"Well now, someone had better pick up that phone." Blake said smugly.

"Because you called it?" Yang said.

"Because I fucking called it!"

 **Jaune pulled the sword from Ozpin's stomach. With a gasp at the pain he now felt, he clutched the wound, trying to stem the bleeding and stumbled back into the pool. As he sunk into the goop, his skin began to decay. Jaune, Velvet and Neptune watched from the edge as he said once last phrase in the Ancient Tongue before he was consumed by what I presume to be the souls of the underworld.**

" **Death is only the beginning." Velvet said somberly.**

 **Mercury was walking down a corridor with another load of treasure slung over his shoulder, struggling with this much larger haul. Needing a break, he set the load on a stone carving jutting out from the wall. As he caught his breath, the carving began to droop with a creaking of stone and the entire corridor began to shake. Looking up at the sand falling from the ceiling, he saw that the ceiling was coming down on him.**

"Ha! #BlameMercury." Yang laughed.

"Fuck you blondie." Mercury yelled.

"Somehow, it's already trending." Emerald said, showing him her scroll. Down in the Beacon seats, Team RWBY high-fived each other.

" **Time to go." Jaune said, his group seeing this all happening as well, but not knowing why. He grabbed Velvet's hand and led them out as best he could figure. Neptune carried the book, but it threw him off balance as he ran and he tripped up a small staircase, loosing his grip. The book hit the floor and slid into another pool, but he didn't care and picked himself back up to run.**

 **Velvet ran back to the pool with a horrified look on her face. "You lost the book!" she yelled and was about to launch into a genuinely furious tirade but for Jaune and Neptune pulling her away.**

 **Mercury tried to carry his bag of treasure down the corridor, torch leading him and the ceiling still coming down on him. Seeing his exit about to be cut off, he dropped the bag and crawled, just able to exit the corridor before it was sealed on top of him.**

 **The Trio's way out led them through the treasure room, where Neptune skidded to a stop and looked around at all the soon-to-be-lost treasure just lying there, practically asking to be… rescued.**

" **Come on, guys, can't we just- "**

" **No!" Velvet said as she and Jaune ran back to him and pulled him back in line.**

 **Mercury was close behind them, his path leading back into the treasure room as well. He yelled for Jaune to wait for him, to help him, and Jaune tried, he really did. He even stood in the doorway of the exit with his arms out until the absolute last moment and the door slammed shut.**

" **Good bye, Mercury." He said to himself on the other side of the door.**

 **On Mercury's side, the door was closed, but he had just enough time to make it back into the treasure room and avoid being compacted. He looked for another exit, but was only able to watch as they were sealed one after the other. The collapsing ceiling even crushing the mirror, cutting him off from sunlight- and potentially oxygen- leaving him with only his torch as a source of illumination.**

 **He turned as a scarab beetle crawled up on top of a statue and chittered at him. He frustratedly tried to shoo it away with his torch but it squealed in protest. Suddenly, the chittering became louder and louder as thousands of scarabs surrounded him. They slowly closed in on him as his torch began to go out, and the last the audience heard of Mercury Black were his screams as the scarabs tore into his flesh.**

"Gods dammit! Why do I always die some inglorious coward's death?" Mercury yelled.

"I say it's karma, considering what you've done." Yang commented.

"Fuck off, Blondie! You don't know me!"

" _Ms. Xiao Long, I must agree with Mr. Black and ask you not to poke that particular bear. He has gone through, as you would put, some serious shit. Whether he wants to disclose the details of such is up to him."_

"Um, thank you? Am I using that right?" he asked Emerald, who shrugged.

" _You are welcome Mr. Black. As to why you are cast in the role of characters with that kind of fate, well, let's just say your behavior fits a particular profile and leave it at that."_

 **The trio ran through the crumbling ruins of Hamunaptra, barely managing to make it to safety before the whole place was consumed by the desert in a cloud of dust and sand. They stood among a group of camels, watching it all unfold when a hand grabbed Neptune's shoulder. He yelled and the trio turned to see Blake sitting on the back of a camel, with a small smile on her face.**

" **Oh, thanks for that. Thank you very much." Neptune said as he clutched his heart, which was going at a couple thousand beats per minute.**

" **You have earned the respect and gratitude of me and my people. He said, her smile widened at Neptune's expense.**

" **Yeah, well, it was nothing, really."**

" **May the Gods smile upon you always." She said in farewell before leading her camel away.**

" **And she's leaving us. Fantastic." Neptune grumbled. "Well, I guess we go home empty-handed. Again."**

" **I wouldn't say that." Jaune said, looking down at Velvet. She looked back up at him and pulled him into a kiss.**

" **Oh, please." Neptune whined, averting his eyes from the touching scene and saddling up a camel for himself.**

 **After their little moment Jaune and Velvet mounted a camel together and rode off into the sunset with Neptune, not knowing that their camel was the very one Mercury had laden down with treasure. They were officially set for life.**

"Mmm, well that was a pretty good one." Yang said as she stood and stretched out her muscles.

"Kinda pulpy, with a nice dash of humor. Good combo." Blake agreed.

" _I'm glad you liked it. Take some time to gather some supplies if needed, because the next one, oh ho ho, the next one."_

"You know, I'm starting to like it when you're ominous like that." Nora teased.

* * *

 **And there we go! So glad that this one is done. Again, it was a bit of a slog.**

 **Anyway, for those who are new, I will be at RTX Austin this year, mainly focusing on my Yang and Blake gender-bent cosplays. Just look for a really tall, pasty white dude with a beard walking next to a girl dressed as either Penny, Nora or Vernal. That's probably me.**

 **So, you all know what's coming next; Star Wars. However, I will be taking a two-week break from posting. This whole business with Critics United, combined with the stress I've had at work lately has left me somewhat drained and I could do with a little time off. Depending on how I feel when I come back, this might become a regular thing.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite, and leave a Review that doesn't involve movie suggestions (seriously guys, my list is extensive enough as it stands), and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 7/16/19**


	35. Chapter 35

**Hey guys! I know I said on Tuesday that I was gonna take a few weeks off, but can you really blame me for wanting to post something today of all days?**

 **In any case, Happy Independence Day to all my American readers! To all my British fans... I'm sorry? If you really want to blame anyone for this, blame France. If they hadn't saved our asses when they did, America would probably still be a colony, in my humble history major opinion.**

 **Consider this not so much as a tease, rather consider it a taste of what I have planned in regards to this particular franchise.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 35

" _Friends, prepare yourselves. For you are about to see the beginning of one of the greatest movie series in cinema history. It may be old, but the impact it has had can not be understated."_

"Really working the shaft, aren't you?" Torchwick commented.

" _Ms. Neo?"_

Neo took her sign and whacked her boss over the head with it. "OW! Neo why?!"

" _Thank you, Ms. Neo. And as we agreed upon…"_ a stand-alone freezer appeared in front of her. She opened it an pulled out a pint of ice cream.

"Are you fucking serious right now!?"

"Sorry not sorry." Neo signed as she dug into the perfectly made treat.

" _And as an added punishment, your character in this series is going to die Roman."_

"Oh, come on!"

" _With that taken care of, ladies and gentlemen, I give you one of the greatest, greatest science fiction-fantasy movies of all time."_

The lights dimmed and text appeared on screen.

 **A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…**

 **STAR WARS**

 **It is a period of civil war.**

 **Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire.**

 **During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.**

 **Pursued by the Empire's sinister agents, Princess Weiss races home aboard her starship, custodian of the stolen plans that can save her people and restore freedom to the galaxy…**

"There will be no living with her after this." Yang said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"As my first decree, you shall only call me Princess Weiss!"

"All hail Princess Weiss!" Team RNJR said together, causing Yang to groan.

"All joking aside," Sun said with a grin, "The music here is bitching, once again."

"It certainly makes things feel more epic." Velvet agreed.

 **As the text flew off into the depths of the void, the camera panned down to a view over a desert planet with two moons. A small ship flew over the planet, lasers firing behind it. The reason why became apparent when another, larger and triangular ship came into view after it, firing it's own lasers at its prey. The smaller vessel clearly had the speed advantage, but the larger craft had the edge in sheer weight of fire. As evidenced when one blast managed to hit the smaller vessel amid-ship.**

 **Inside, a tall, green, humanoid robot stumbled as the impact was felt all over the ship. It was accompanied by another robot with pink and green coloring that rolled along on three legs, one of which came from under the main body. Alarms blared, and the ship's crew ran to their battlestations.**

" **Did you hear that?" the green robot said in a familiar voice.**

"That's me." Ren said, surprised.

"The coloring kinda gave it away, Renny." Nora said. Ren looked down at his clothes and shrugged, conceded her point.

 **The pink and green robot whistled in response.**

" **They've shut down the main reactor. We'll be destroyed for sure! This is madness." The soldiers ran past them and took up defensive positions ahead of a door, strange looking guns in hand. "We're doomed." The smaller bot whistled some kind of argument. "There'll be no escape for the princess this time." A strange noise was heard overhead. "What was that?"**

 **Outside, the ship could be seen being pulled in by the larger vessel. Apparently, the single hit was enough for them to catch up. The droids and the soldiers all listened as the noise grew louder. An older soldier, realizing what was coming, focused on the door. His instincts proved correct.**

 **As the noise ceased, the sides of the door erupted with sparks before it exploded. Soldiers in white armor streamed through the smoke in the entrance, their own guns firing away. The defenders were ready, for the most part, and were able to hold the door for a short time. The defenders fell in droves as more attackers poured through the entrance and they soon broke and ran.**

"Hmm, that could have gone better." Winter commented. Breaching is a tricky proposition in any circumstance, and relying on numbers like the attackers did was risky.

"They could have at least used some flashbangs or grenades, at least." Jaune agreed.

 **A squad of defenders ran past a hallway just as Ren and his companion started to come out. The defenders took position at one end of the hallway and managed to keep the attackers held up. Using the firefight as a distraction, the droids crossed the hallway without a scratch and down another hallway. The fighting continued, and the regrouped defenders fell back again.**

 **Back at the entrance, a figure in all black stepped onto the ship. They were tall and their breathing was audible. The figure stood in the hallway and observed the damage while the attackers around them stood at attention.**

"I got ten lien that says that's Raven in there." Qrow said.

"I got twenty says it's Adam." Blake joined.

"I'll take those odds and say neither." Glynda said, allowing herself a little frivolity.

 **Weiss inserted a flat square drive of some kind in to the green and pink droid just under what must have constituted an eye on it. she was dressed in all white with a shawl over her hair, which done up in it's usual style.**

" **P3-N1, where are you?" Ren said, walking into the darkened hallway, soldiers running past behind him.**

"P3-N1?" Weiss asked.

"Probably some kind of model number." Blake guessed, "Like how the new Atlesian Knight robots are technically classified as AK-200?"

"It can't be…" Ruby whispered.

"Salutations, everybody!" a voice said from the entrance to the theater. Standing in the doorway, was a girl clad in a green hoodie over a black top, green short-shorts, and black leggings. Some were confused as to who she was, but a certain reaper could never forget that orangette hairstyle.

"PENNY!" Ruby yelled, activating her Semblance and charging Penny. She impacted a hug on her robot friend with the force of gale force winds, but Penny barely moved, aside from returning the hug.

"Hello, Ruby, my friend."

" _I found it prudent to bring Ms. Pollendina in on this, considering she is about to be very important in this particular film series."_

"I am in a movie? Sensational!"

"Come on, let's watch!"

"So, I am playing this green robot with pink highlights?"

"I'd say so."

"That is very on the nose."

 **Ren looked down the hallway to see Weiss finish her work and retreat deeper into the halls of the ship. Penny waddle-turned in place and moved down the hall.**

" **At last! Where have you been?" Ren said. Penny tootled a response. "They're heading this way. What are we going to do? We'll be sent to the spice mines of Kessel or smashed into who knows what! Hey! Where are you going?" he yelled as she moved past him.**

 **The stormtroopers escorted prisoners and droids down the halls of the ship. On the bridge, the Black One was holding a defending officer by his neck off the floor.**

" **The Death Star plans are not in the main computer." A stormtrooper reported to the Black One.**

" **Where are those transmissions you intercepted?" The figure, now identified as a she, said. Her voice was deep and tinny, but was still distinctly feminine. "What have you done with those plans?"**

"Ha! Pay up kitty." Qrow barked.

"One, only my team can call me that." Blake said with narrowed eyes, "And two, there's no proof that person is Yang's mother." She was very careful to call Raven her mother instead of her mom. There was a very distinct difference to Yang.

"She's got a point, Qrow." Summer said before Qrow could protest, "The voice is too synthesized. It's hard to even tell it's a she in there."

" **We intercepted no transmissions!" the officer said, struggling to get the words out and oxygen in. "This is a consular ship! We're on a diplomatic mission!"**

" **If this is a consular ship, where is the ambassador?" She was unable to get an answer as the man's neck broke from the strain placed upon it and he fell limp. The Black One tossed him aside as though he were nothing more than a doll. "Commander, tear this ship apart until you've found those plans!" she yelled, "And bring me the prisoners! I want them alive!"**

 **The stormtroopers did just that. In one section of the ship, a quartet was searching the side corridors. Weiss, now packing a gun of her own, looked into the hallway and took aim. Seeing her, one of the troopers alerted his fellows, ordering them to set their weapons for stun. It was all he could do before Weiss blasted him in the chest. She turned to run, but the man next to him fired his blaster. A ring of blue light hit Weiss and she fell forward, dropping her gun.**

" **She'll be alright." The shooter said, "Inform Lady Vader we have a prisoner."**

 **In a separate part of the ship, Penny was waddling into some kind of pod.**

" **Hey, you're not permitted in there. it's restricted. You'll be deactivated for sure." Ren told her. She ignored him, and just got in. "Don't call me a mindless philosopher, you overweight glob of grease. Now come out of there before someone sees you." Penny whistled in argument. "Secret mission? What plans? What are you talking about? I'm not getting in there." A blaster bolt impacting near his head quickly changed his mind.**

"How about now, Renny?" Nora said cheekily.

Ren flicked her nose. "Boop."

"Are they finally together-together?" Pyrrha whispered to Jaune.

"I think so? If they are, they are really good at keeping it quiet."

" **I'm going to regret this." He grumbled as he climbed into the pod. The door closed behind him and the pod blasted into space. On the enemy ship, they were spotted by a weapons team.**

" **There goes another one." The gunner said.**

" **Hold your fire. There's no lifeforms." The officer ordered. "It must have short-circuited."**

" **That's strange. The damage doesn't look as bad from out here." Ren said as the larger ship shrunk in the distance. Penny made a few unknown sounds. "Are you sure this thing is safe?" Penny whistled. Apparently, it didn't make Ren feel any better as they hurtled toward the desert planet below.**

 **Weiss was escorted to Lady Vader by the same squad of stormtroopers who found her.**

" **Darth Vader." She said with disdain. "Only you could be so bold. The Imperial Senate will not stand for this. When they hear you've attacked a diplomatic- "**

" **Don't be so surprised your highness." Vader interrupted. "You weren't on any mercy mission this time. Several transmissions were beamed to this ship by rebel spies. I want to know what happened to the plans they sent you."**

" **I have no idea what you're talking about. I am a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Atlas." Weiss insisted.**

" **You are part of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor. Take her away!" The stormtroopers escorted her back to their ship, while Vader and what was assumed to be an officer of some kind walked in the other direction.**

" **Holding her is dangerous." The officer said, trying to make sense of his superiors' actions. "If word of this gets out, it could generate sympathy for the rebellion in the Senate."**

" **I have traced the rebel spies to her." Vader explained. "Now, she is my only link to finding their secret base."**

" **She'll die before she'll tell you anything."**

"That sounds like my partner." Ruby preened.

"Damn straight." Yang agreed.

" **Leave that to me. Send a distress signal, and then inform the Senate that all aboard were killed."**

" **Lady Vader," Another officer said, coming from the central computer. "The battle station plans are not aboard this ship, and no transmissions were made. An escape pod was jettisoned during the fighting, but no lifeforms were aboard."**

" **She must have hidden the plans in the escape pod." Vader reasoned. "Send a detachment down to retrieve them. See to it personally, commander. There will be no one to stop us this time."**

 **It was mid-day on the planet below. Ren and P3-N1 were walking away from their pod, no worse for the wear, except for the sand no doubt clogging them up.**

" **How did we get into this mess?" Ren asked aloud. "We seem to be made to suffer. It's our lot in life." P3-N1 whistled, I'm guessing to make him stop complaining. "I've got to rest before I fall apart, my joints are almost frozen." More whistling as they came over a rise and looked out over the landscape. "What a desolate place this is." P3-N1 whistled again and began to head off to the left. "Where are you going? Well, I'm not going that way. It's much too rocky. This way is much easier." P3-N1 tootled in disagreement. "What makes you think there are settlements over there?" she tootled again. "Don't get technical with me." Whistling. "What mission? What are you talking about?" tootling and raspberries. "I've just about had enough of you. Fine, go that way. You'll be malfunctioning in a day, you near-sighted scrap-pile." He kicked her and headed off in the other direction. "And don't let me catch you following me, begging for help, because you won't get it."**

 **P3-N1 looked ahead and back at Ren a few times before whistling loudly. Ren turned, and said, "No more adventures! I'm not going that way." P3-N1 made a few more raspberries and began rolling in the opposite direction from Ren.**

"Well that was rather rude." Penny said.

"What was?" Ruby asked, just glad to have her most unique friend back for a short time.

"What I said."

"Wait, you can understand all that beeping and whistling?" Weiss asked.

"Indeed. What I said before I went off was- " as she spoke her voice was covered up by the loud blaring of horns. Everyone covered their ears and yelled in pain.

"Gah! What the actual hell was that?!" Yang yelled.

"What? I simply said- " The blaring sounded again.

"Penny!" Ruby yelled in pain.

"Hmm." Penny closed her eyes and seemed to be in thought. "Interesting. It seems I have been programmed with a built-in censor that is set to go off whenever I utter a phrase not sanctioned by my Father."

"Okay, note to self: keep Penny's language clean or else that!"

 **Ren continued to walk across the rolling dunes for several hours. The monotony would have driven anyone else insane, but, being a droid, he simply didn't notice. The landscape was changed only by the odd rock or boulder off to the side and the appearance of a gigantic snake-like skeleton.**

" **That malfunctioning little twerp." Ren grumbled. "This is all her fault, she tricked me into going this way. But she'll do no better." He looked out into the distance and saw a flashing light in the dimming light of twilight. "Wait, is that… a transport!" he realized before he began jumping and waving his arms as best he could.**

 **Miles away, P3-N1 whistled as she traveled through a canyon at sunset. She stopped when she heard movement off to the left. Rocks rolled down the sides of the canyon, but she paid it little mind. She continued down the path, oblivious of the small creatures watching her, hooded and cloaked, their eyes glowing a strange orange light.**

 **Suddenly, one of the creatures jumped up from behind a rock and shoot her. Her body, as it was, roiled in electric discharge until she finally collapsed. Seeing that she was down for the count, the little thing beckoned its' fellows over in whatever their language was called. They gathered around P3-N1, cheering and muttering to each other, and hoisted her on their shoulders. They carried her out of the canyon and over to their transport. A large funnel descended from the side and P3-N1 was fitted with some sort of device on her side before she was sucked up into the transport. The sun finally having set, the creatures called it a day and retreated into their transport and it began to crawl away on powerful-looking treads.**

"What are those things?" Ruby said uncomfortably.

"They appear to be scavengers of some sort." Penny said.

"I think I agree." Sun said, "We had people similar to that back home. They called themselves junk dealers, and they basically spent their time travelling across the desert and savannahs looking for discard junk that they could resell back in the settlements."

"Well, whatever they are, they creep me the heck out." Ruby pouted.

* * *

 **So, fun fact; this is the first anything I've ever written at 30,000 feet off the ground. That's right, as I write this out, I am flying my way to Austin for RTX. If you think you see me at the con, feel free to come and say hi! I would love to meet some of you guys. As a reminder, I will be dressed as Male Yang on Friday, Male Blake on Saturday, and in casual clothes on Sunday. Just look for a tall, pasty white guy with a beard. It just might be me.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite and Review, and i will catch you in a few weeks.**

 **Next Update: 7/23/19 (NOTE: This date is accurate for the next chapter. There will be no new chapters until this date.)**


	36. Chapter 36- Star Wars, Part 2

**EDIT: This is a re-upload, as I have been receiving reports that the new chapter isn't showing.**

 **I have returned!  
**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 36

 **The inside of the crawler was filled with discarded droids, parts for them and general metal debris. The droids ranged from humanoid types like Ren, to versions of P3-N1 except somewhat less streamlined, to some that simply looked like boxes with legs. They sat around languidly, as if simply waiting to go through whatever motions they had become accustomed to. This is what P3-N1 awoke to. She rolled through the innards until a familiar voice caught her attention.**

" **P3?" Ren said, walking up to her. "P3-N1, it is you! It is you!" They spent time trying to catch up and compare notes on what had happened since they parted ways as the crawler moved through the night.**

"Definitely scavengers." Ruby said with a little disgust.

"What are you complaining about sis?" Yang said, almost groaned, "You used to collect junk parts all the time back when you were building Crescent Rose."

"Yeah, but I paid for all that stuff. From my own allowance. These little creeps are just taking everything and anything they come across."

 **The next day, a squad of stormtroopers- equipped with what was assumed to be desert gear- were searching the area around the crashed escape pod. A few were riding strange creatures clearly not native to Remnant. Their commander was looking through a strange set of binoculars, scanning the horizon.**

" **Someone** _ **was**_ **in the pod." He said, looking at the droids remaining foortprints. "The tracks go off in this direction."**

 **One of his troopers stood up, a piece of metal in hand. "Look, sir, droids."**

 **Inside the crawler, Ren felt their movement cease. "We've stopped. Wake up." He tapped P3 on the head. "Wake up!" he slammed his hand on her dome. the front of the crawler opened to reveal the light of day as the creatures that had taken them filed in and started ordering the droids out. Ren and P3 followed orders, though somewhat under duress. They were lined up in front a small homestead in the desert, consisting of a small clay hut and a couple large holes in the ground.**

"And now they're selling them? I officially don't like these guys." Ruby leaned back with a pout.

Penny smiled, glad that her old friend had not changed. She apparently saw the droids on screen the same way she saw Penny, and for that she was grateful.

 **A man with scraggly black hair and a matching beard walked out of the hut, followed by a girl with red-tipped black hair. She wore light linen clothes consisting of a tunic, breeches and boots. The two met with the leader of the hooded creatures.**

"So I'm the main character this time?" Ruby said, perking up.

" _Yes, Ms. Rose. As I said before, Mr. Arc can adapt to an impressive number of roles, but it is boring if he is the only one."_

"If we go by the logic of literature, that would mean that Ruby and Weiss are the romantic interest of the story." Blake pointed out.

Ruby wrapped an arm around Weiss' shoulder and looked at her with a cocky grin. "Sup?" Weiss chuckled and rolled her eyes before flicking her partner's nose.

"And we shall call them… White Rose!" Nora declared.

"You know what, I was gonna go with Ice Flower, but that is actually way better." Ruby said.

" **Okay, let's get this over with." Qrow said. Ruby moved to follow him, but a voice from one of the holes called her.**

" **Ruby! Ruby!" the girl ran to the lip of the hole and looked down to see a woman standing below. She had tanned skin, short brown hair, light-blue eyes and the beginnings of crow's feet around her eyes. "If that idiot uncle of yours if he gets a translator, make sure it speaks Batchi."**

"Ugh, not her again." Weiss said.

"You know her, Weiss-cream?" Yang asked.

"You don't?" Weiss was a bit surprised at this. Cinder grimaced, remembering her and the trick she was a part of well.

"I mean, she does look a bit familiar… Oh fuck me…"

"What?" Blake asked.

"She's dead. Cinder killed her in the Vault under Haven. Or Raven killed her after she opened the Vault." She was dead before Yang arrived, so either option was plausible in her mind.

" **Doesn't look like we have much of a choice, but I'll remind him." She replied before walking back over to her uncle, who was already walking down the line of droids. He selected a red and white droid similar to P3, but passed on P3 herself before coming to stand before Ren. "You." He said, getting Ren's attention, "I suppose you're programmed for etiquette and protocol."**

" **Protocol? Why it's my primary function, sir." Ren said, happy to speak of anything that would keep him from being destroyed. "I am well-versed in all customs-"**

" **I got no need for a protocol droid." Qrow, moving to walk away before Ren stopped him.**

" **Of course not, sir, not in an environment such as this. That is why I have been programmed- "**

" **What I really need is a droid who understands the binary language of moisture vaporators."**

" **Vaporators? Sir, my first job was programming binary load-lifters, very similar to your vaporators in most respects."**

" **Can you speak Batchi?"**

" **Of course I can, sir. It's like a second language to me. I'm as fluent in it as- "**

" **Yeah, alright, shut up. I'll take him. Ruby!" The creature with Qrow motioned for Ren to move over with the red droid next to P3 as Ruby ran up to him. "Take these two over to the garage, will ya? I want them cleaned up before dinner."**

" **But I was gonna go to Toshi Station to pick up some power converters." She whined.**

" **You can waste time with your friends when your chores are done. Now, hop to it."**

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold right the fuck up!" Tai said. "Is this a version of Qrow that knows how to act like a responsible adult?"

"Uh, yes?" Summer said hesitantly.

"By all that is holy, PLEASE tell me that someone is recording this!"

"Already on it." Glynda said, holding her scroll in one hand and a thumbs up in the other.

 **Ruby sighed in defeat, and motioned for the droids to follow her. P3 made to waddle after them, but froze when one of her captors pointed a remote at her and pressed a button. As Ruby and Ren were about to enter the hut, the red droid with them made a small explosion and started smoking.**

" **Uncle Qrow!" she called.**

" **Yeah?" he turned as he pulled out a money bag.**

" **This P3 unit has a bad motivator, look."**

" **What the hell kind of junk are you trying to push on us?" Qrow said to the leader, who began trying to defend himself (I'm just assuming it's a guy at this point).**

" **Excuse me, ma'am," Ren said, tapping Ruby's shoulder, "But that P3 unit is in prime condition, a real bargain." He indicated P3-N1.**

" **Uncle Qrow?"**

" **Yeah?"**

" **What about that one?" she pointed at P3.**

" **What about the green one? We'll take that one."**

" **I'm sure you'll be pleased with that one, ma'am." Ren said as a pair of the creatures came and took the red droid away, "She really is in first-class condition, I've worked with her before. Here she comes." P3 began rolling up to them, whistling happily that she wasn't being separated from her friend.**

" **Okay, let's go." Ruby said, leading them inside.**

" **Now, don't you forget this." Ren warned her. "Why I should stick my neck out for you is really beyond my capacity."**

 **Later, Ruby and the droids were in the garage, which Ruby had converted into something of a workshop for herself. Ren was being lowered into something, while Ruby was looking for tools to use on P3.**

" **Thank the Maker! This oil bath is going to feel** _ **so good**_ **!" he said excitedly. "I've got such a bad case of dust contamination, I can barely move."**

" **It just isn't fair." Ruby complained, talking to herself. "Maybe Cinder's right. I'm never gonna get outta here."**

"So I'm here too. Interesting." Cinder said, mulling over her drink. She had managed to convince the Wolf to allow her wine instead of soda, and he acquiesced, providing her with a 12-year-old Mistralian Red.

"Probably as a bully." Emerald half-joked. "Still, at least you managed to get off the giant sand-ball."

" **Is there anything I might do to help?" Ren offered.**

" **No, not unless you can alter time, speed up the harvest or teleport me off this rock."**

" **I don't think so, ma'am. I'm only a droid, and not very knowledgeable about such things. Not on this planet, anyway. As a matter of fact, I'm not even sure which planet I'm on."**

" **Well, if there's a bright center to the universe, you're on the planet it's farthest from." Ruby said with a grunt as she worked on P3.**

" **I see, miss."**

" **Well, you can call me Ruby."**

" **I see, Ms. Ruby." Ren corrected himself.**

 **Ruby chuckled. "No, no, just Ruby."**

" **Oh." Ren was lifted out of the oil bath, allow the liquid to drip off his body. "And I am L-1RN, human-cyborg relations, and this is my counterpart, P3-N1."**

" **Well, those names won't do. Let's see." She thought hard for a few moments as she cleaned P3, "I'll call you Ren, and you will be Penny. I'll tell ya, Penny," she grunted as she tried to clean one of the panels on her dome, "You got a lot of carbon scoring here, looks like you two have seen a lot of action."**

"Naming robots? Yeah, that sounds like your daughter, Summer." Taiyang said, earning him a punch to the shoulder.

" **With all we've been through, I'm surprised we're in as good condition we are, what with the rebellion and all."**

 **That caught Ruby's attention. "You know of the rebellion against the Empire?" she asked, her silver eyes practically glowing with excitement.**

" **That's how we came to be in your service, if you take my meaning, miss." Ren explained.**

" **Have you been in many battles?"**

" **Several, I think. Actually, there's not much to tell. I'm merely an interpreter and not much good at telling stories." Ruby slumped at hearing this, and sat down to continue cleaning Penny. "Well, not at making them interesting, anyway."**

 **Ruby had taken a pair of pliers and was trying to extricate something from between two of Penny's plates on her side. "Well, my little friend, you got something jammed in here pretty good. Were you two in a star cruiser or- "Ruby fell backwards as the metal finally came free. As she did, Penny's projector activated and a holographic image of Weiss appeared.**

" **Help me, Taiyang Xiao Long, you're my only hope." She said before the image fritzed and repeated itself.**

" _Ah, I love this part."_

"Well, this is interesting." Winter said, leaning forward. "Seems that hologram technology is more widespread in this universe."

"No duh, Ice Queen, it's sci-fi." Qrow said, earning him a slap upside the head from Summer. "Ow! What?"

"That's for being a smart-ass." She scolded.

"Who cares about that? I'm in another movie!" Tai said excitedly.

" **What's this?" Ruby said, collecting herself. Penny whistled in response.**

" **What's what?" Ren translated, a little miffed, "What is that?" he indicated the holo-projection. Penny whistled again. "Oh, she says it's nothing ma'am. Merely a malfunction, old data. Pay it no mind."**

" **Who is she?" Ruby said, sitting up and crossing her legs. "She's beautiful."**

" **I'm afraid I'm not quite sure. I think she was a passenger on our last voyage, a person of some importance, I believe. Our captain was attached to- "**

" **Is there any more to this recording?" Ruby interrupted him. Penny answered with more whistling.**

" **Behave yourself, P3, you're going to get us into trouble. It's okay, you can trust her. She's our new mistress." More whistling. "She's says that she is the property of a Taiyang Xiao Long, a resident of these parts and that it's a private message for him. Quite frankly, ma'am, I don't know what she's talking about. Our last master was Captain Seiben, but with all we've been through, this little P3 unit has become quite eccentric." Penny apparently took offense to that and raspberried at him.**

" **Taiyang Xiao Long…" Ruby said, thinking aloud, "I wonder if she means Old Ben Long?"**

" **Excuse me, ma'am, but do you know what she's talking about?"**

" **Well, I don't know anyone named** _ **Taiyang**_ **," Ruby said as she stood and walked over to her toolbox, "But Old Ben lives out beyond the Dune Sea. Kind of a strange old hermit." She looked back to the repeating message, "I wonder who she is? Sounds like she's in trouble. I better play back the whole thing." She grabbed a few choice tools and approached Penny in a crouch. Before she could use the tools, Penny whistled at her.**

" **She says that the restraining bolt has short-circuited her recording system." Ren translated. "She suggests that if you remove the bolt, she could playback the whole recording."**

 **Ruby considered this. "Alright," she shrugged and grabbed a small pry bar from her toolbox, "I guess you're too small to run away if I take this off." She worked it off and the holoimage faded as soon as it came off. "What the hell? Bring her back, playback the entire message." Ruby ordered.**

 **Penny whistled innocently. "What message?" Ren asked, smacking her upside her dome, "The one you've just been playing! The one you're carrying around in your rusty innards."**

"Wow, Penny. Even in another reality, you stink at lying." Ruby teased her friend.

"I have to idea what you're talking about." Penny said, crossing her arms in front of herself. She hiccup'd a moment later, a hand shooting up to her mouth as she slowly turned crimson. "Shut up."

" **Ruby!" Vernal called from outside.**

" **Be right there, Aunt Vernal!" Ruby called back.**

" **I'm sorry ma'am, but she appears to have picked up a slight flutter." Ren said.**

" **Here," she handed her tools to Ren, "See what you can do with her, I'll be right back."**

 **Penny whistled in concern. "Just you reconsider playing that message for her." Beeping. "No, I don't think she likes you at all." A worried whistle. "No, I don't like you either." Ren turned his back to her.**

 **Ruby walked into the dining room to see her Uncle Qrow already digging in to the meal Vernal had made. She thanked her Aunt and took a seat at the small table.**

" **You know, I think that P3 unit we bought might have been stolen." She said.**

" **What makes you say that?" Qrow said.**

"How about the fact that you bought them from creepy hooded guys who also tried to push defective goods on you?" Ruby deadpanned.

" **I stumbled across a recording while I was cleaning her. She says she belongs to someone called Taiyang Xiao Long." Vernal and Qrow shared a glance at the mention of the name. "I thought she might have meant Old Ben. You know what she's talking about?"**

" **Mm-mm." Qrow denied.**

" **Wonder if he's related to Ben."**

" **That wizard's just a crazy old man." Qrow said firmly, "And tomorrow, I want you to take that P3 unit down to Anchorhead and have its memory erased, and that'll be the end of it. It belongs to us now."**

" **But what if this 'Taiyang' comes looking for her?" Ruby asked, pouring herself a glass of milk.**

" **He won't." Qrow assured her. "I don't think he exists anymore. He died about the same time as your mother."**

"Oh, for the love of- " Ruby said, facepalming herself, "Really Wolf? More dead parents? Way to stereotype, jerkwad." Yang wasted no time and wrapped her sister in a hug. Weiss and Blake wanted to join, but they knew that Yang was the right person for this. After all, she knew how Ruby felt, having raised her after Summer died.

" **He knew my mother?" Ruby asked, hope in her eyes.**

" **I told you to forget it." Qrow warned. "Your only concern is to prepare those two for tomorrow. In the morning, I want them up on the south ridge working on those condensors."**

" **Yes, sir." Ruby grumbled, poking at her food. "I think those new droids are gonna work out fine." She said abruptly, her voice suddenly sounding more confident. "In fact, I, uh, I was also thinking about our agreement. About me staying on another season?" Qrow looked up. "And if these new droids do work out, I want to transmit my application to the Academy this year."**

"Academy? What kind of Academy I wonder." Glynda said.

"Perhaps something similar to Beacon?" Ozcar offered.

"Is that you Ozpin?"

"Yes. Oscar informed me that the previous movie had ended, so I decided to rejoin you."

"So… care to explain- "

"No."

"But it doesn't- "

"No."

"Do you actually- "

"No!"

"And how did- "

"Not canon."

"Were you two- "

Ozcar grabbed a bag of popcorn and shoved it in her face. "Shut up and watch the movie Glynda."

" **You mean the next semester before the harvest?" Qrow was surprised and a little shocked at this.**

" **Sure, there's more than enough droids."**

" **Harvest is when I need you the most!" Ruby looked down, knowing exactly where this was going. "It's only one season more. This year, we'll make enough on the harvest that I'll be able to hire some more hands, and then you can go to the Academy next year. You gotta know that I need you here, Ruby."**

"What do you think they harvest?" Weiss asked.

"Well, Ms. Schnee, " Glynda said as she removed the last of the popcorn in her hair, "Based off the climate and some of the words I've heard Qrow use, I would wager that they harvest the ambient moisture in the air and sell it in the form of water."

"Is that even possible?" Weiss asked, ignoring how obviously lucrative such a trade could be.

"Maybe. I believe Atlas would be the Kingdom to ask, but I doubt they would put any real effort into it."

"Beg you pardon?" Winter said with an edge.

"She means no insult to Atlas' engineers. I actually see where she is going here." Ozcar chimed in. "It is merely a matter of benefit. If the task were possible, Atlas could most certainly get the job done, but what benefit would they gain? Unlike Vacuo and Menagerie, The Kingdom of Atlas is almost a tundra. They have no lack of water, so why would they bother to create the technology to make more?"

" **But it's a whole 'nother year!" she complained.**

" **Look, it's only one more season." Qrow tried to calm her, but she was having none of it.**

" **Yeah, that's what you said when Cinder and Neo left." She stood and made to leave.**

" **Where are you going?" Vernal asked.**

" **Looks like I'm going nowhere." Ruby said scornfully as she walked out.**

 **Vernal turned to Qrow, who was now holding his head in his hands. "Okay, Bird-boy, what the hell?" she said, "You know how much this means to her, especially since all her friends have already gone."**

" **I know, I know. But we need her here for now."**

" **Ruby's just not a farmer, Qrow. She's got too much of her mother in her."**

 **Qrow turned to see Ruby walk out of the compound. "Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of."**

"I will choose to take that as a compliment." Ruby said proudly.

* * *

 **Man, is it good to be back! This might actually become a thing moving forward.**

 **Hope you guys had a good couple weeks without we. No withdrawls or anything. I saw Spiderman: Far From Home during my break. to be as spoiler-free as possible, I fucking CALLED IT on the villain. Also found a Xover fic called 'Prim-arc' where Jaune is a reincarnation of the Primarch Sanguinius (Blessed is his Name) and he starts mutating once Pyrrha unlocks his Aura. I'm talking fangs, angel wings, the Red Thirst, everything Blood Angel aside from the Rage. Really good, highly recommend it to my 40k fans.**

 **And speaking of 40k, did you hear that a live-action 40k tv series is in the works? I actually think it could work, especially since Space Marines aren't the protags. No offense, but the Astartes aren't exactly what you'd call 'relatable characters.'**

 **I do hope the Snowbird fans will forgive me, but with the way everything is set up right now, having Winter in the Aunt Beru slot just didn't feel right. Trust me, I wanted to do Snowbird really badly and we will have it at some point. Instead we have here a crack ship inspired by the story 'Guilty Rose' by seraphimnight. Good stuff, check it out. It just felt fun to do, and let's be honest, Owen and Beru are throw-away characters anyway.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite, and Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 7/30/19**


	37. Chapter 37- Star Wars, Part 3

**Hey guys, it's that time of the week again!**

 **So I forgot to talk about this last week, so I'll just throw it in here: surprisingly, Fem-Vader is receiving quite the mixed reaction. Like, I get it, Vader is quintessential Star Wars and the series just wouldn't be the same without him, but is it really so strange for me to change the gender of a major character in a movie? I mean, I cast NORA VALKYRIE in the role of Ian Malcolm half a year ago and you guys loved her. So much so that it helped influence my decision to add in the Lost World and JP3 to my backlog.**

 **On the other hand, Ruby-Luke has been pretty well received. A lot of folks thought it was gonna be Jaune, but I did say that I was taking a break from having him as the protag, didn't I? Ah well, might as well get on with the show, as it were.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 37

 **After her little dramatic moment watching the sunset on the lip of the housing complex, Ruby made her way back to the garage to finish working on Ren and Penny. However, when she entered, it was to find the room empty of the two newcomers. Confused, she pulled out a remote similar to the one the sellers had used on Penny and pushed a button.**

" **Oh!" Ren said in surprise, jumping at the sudden shock.**

" **What are you doing hiding back there?" she asked as if to a guilty child.**

" **It wasn't my fault, ma'am, please don't deactivate me." He pleaded. "I told her not to go, but she's faulty. Malfunctioning. Kept going on about her mission."**

"Ren, I'm sorry, but this version of you is a total bitch." Yang said.

Nora was about to jump to his defense when he spoke up. "That's okay Yang. I agree with you."

" **Dammit." Ruby cursed and ran from the room, Ren following behind. She ran back out topside and searched the horizon with another pair of strange binoculars.**

" **That P3 unit has always been a problem." Ren said, walking up beside her. "These astro droids are getting a bit out of hand. Even I can't understand their logic at times."**

" **How could I be so stupid?" Ruby said as she put the macrobinoculars down, "She's nowhere in sight. Dammit!"**

" **Excuse me, ma'am, but couldn't we go after her?"**

" **It's too dangerous with all the sand people around. We'll have to wait until morning."**

" **Rubes!" Qrow called from within the house, "I shutting the power down!"**

" **Alright! I'll be right there!" she called back before groaning. "Boy am I gonna get it. You know, that droid is gonna cause me nothing but trouble. I can already tell."**

" **Oh, she excels at that, ma'am."**

"That did seem to become a habit of mine." Penny admitted.

"Don't worry Penny. It's not your fault everything went down the way it did." Ruby assured her with a glare at Team CRME, who looked not the least bit repentant.

 **The next day, Qrow awoke to find Vernal making breakfast and Ruby nowhere to be found.**

" **Hey, you seen Ruby yet today?" He asked his wife.**

" **Yeah, said she had some things to do, so she left early." She said as she worked on some eggs and bacon.**

" **She take those new droids with her?" he asked, taking a strip of already cooked bacon.**

" **Dunno." Vernal said with a playful slap to the hand that held the bacon.**

 **Qrow sighed and bit off a chuck of the meat. "Well, she better have those units in the south range repaired by mid-day or there'll be hell to pay."**

 **Instead, Ruby and Ren were zooming across the desert in a land speeder.**

"Woah, what is that?" Ruby said.

"It appears to be some kind of hover car." Penny said, analyzing the slightly blurry image. "Though it is a very rudimentary design compared to what is made in Atlas."

"Seriously? Atlas has hovercraft tech?"

"Indeed. The technology, as it stands now, involves a great deal of gravity dust to operate, but the potential uses, both practical and military are vast. Therefore, Mr. Ironwood- "

" _General."_ Winter emphasized.

" _Mr._ Ironwood has funded several projects in the hopes of perfecting the technology, or at the very least, minimizing the dust consumption."

" **Look, there's a droid on the scanner, dead ahead." She pointed at the screen. "Could be our little P3 unit, hit the accelerator."**

 **As she moved through a canyon, a creature wrapped head to toe in cloth took aim at her with a sniper rifle. It was stopped by one of its' kin. They exchanged a series of grunts and growls before the second pulled the first back to their massive, shaggy, ram-horned mounts and they moved out as one.**

"You know, I was wondering what a Sand Person was, but I was not expecting that." Mercury said.

 **Ruby stopped the speeder a few feet away from Penny, who was waddling over some rocks.**

" **Hey, hey, where do you think you're going?" she said. Penny whistled in response.**

" **Mistress Ruby is your mistress now!" Ren scolded "We don't want to hear anymore of this Taiyang Xiao Long gibberish!" More whistling. "And don't talk to me about your mission. You're lucky she doesn't blast you into a million pieces on the spot."**

 **As Ruby assured him there was no call for that, Penny whistled again, with something akin to fear in the tone. "What's she saying?"**

" **There are several creatures approaching from the south-east." Ren said, fear in his voice.**

" **Sand People. Or worse." Ruby growled. She ran to her speeder and pulled out sniper rifle. "Come on, let's check it out."**

"Even in an alternate reality, some things don't change, eh, sis?" Yang said.

"It's cool, but it ain't my sweetheart." Ruby said, wishing she had Crescent Rose on her so she could hug her.

"Not quite what I was referring too, but, whatever."

 **A few minutes later, Ruby had taken a vantage point on the lip of the canyon and was looking at a possible campsite below her, Ren standing behind her. "Well, there are a couple banthas down there, but I don't think- wait a minute…" a humanoid figure walked into view from behind a bantha, "They're Sand People alright, I can see one of them now."**

 **Her vision went dark and she looked up to see a Sand Person in front of her. It howled a war cry, shaking a bent club over its' head. Ren screamed and fell backwards. Ruby tried to bring her gun to bear, but her assailant batted it away and struck her in the middle of the chest, throwing her on her back. It tried to bash her head in multiple times, but Ruby dodged each time.**

 **The scene cut to a cave nearby the abandoned speeder, the war cries of the Sand People echoing off the walls of the canyon. Penny watched as the Sand People dragged an unconscious Ruby back to it and began to ransack it. Penny whistled a few times, trying to wake Ruby up to no avail.**

 **Suddenly, a haunting noise echoed off the walls. The Sand People turned to see a robed figure walking towards them, waving his arms about. The sound more than the source terrified the Sand People and they beat a hasty retreat, dropping everything except their stick-maces.**

"What in the hell was that?" Weiss said, a little shaken.

"Sounded like something out of your worst nightmares." Pyrrha said.

"Or the Lovecraft Mythos." Blake added.

 **Penny watched as the robed figure knelt beside Ruby and checked her pulse. He looked up at her and lowered his hood, revealing a much older version of Taiyang. His face retained its tan and friendly features, but his sandy blonde hair and dark scraggly facial hair had gone grey.**

" **Hello there." He said to Penny. "Come here, my little friend. No need to fear." Penny whistled, looking at Ruby. "Oh, don't worry, she'll be alright." As if on cue, Ruby began to stir and opened her eyes. "Easy there, kid. You've had a busy day." Tai said as he helped Ruby into a sitting position. "You're fortunate to be all in one piece."**

 **Ruby shook the cobwebs loose and got a better look at him. "Ben? Ben Long? Man, am I glad to see you."**

" **The Jundland Wastes are not to be travelled lightly." Tai told her, as he stood and helped her to her feet and sat her down on a nearby rock. "So, Little Rose, tell me; what brings you out this far?"**

" **This little droid." She said, pointing to Penny. "I think she's searching for her former master, but I've never seen such devotion in a droid before. She claims to be the property of a Taiyang Xiao Long." At the name, Tai's eyes widened and he took a seat of his own. "Is he a relative of yours? Do you know him?"**

" **Taiyang Xiao Long?" he said, almost in shock. "Taiyang… now that's a name I've not heard in a long time. A long time."**

" **I think my uncle knows him. He said he was dead."**

" **Oh, he's not dead. Well, not yet, anyway."**

" **You know him?"**

" **Well, I should think so. He's me. I haven't gone by the name of Taiyang since before you were born."**

"Well this is interesting." Qrow said.

"I like this me. I hope I age that well." Tai said.

"Me too." Summer agreed, drooling a little.

" **Well, then I guess Penny does belong to you."**

" **Can't seem to recall ever owning a droid before." He said, scratching his chin. The droid's coloring did seem somewhat familiar, but he couldn't quite- his musing was cut off by the howling of Sand People echoing off the walls of the canyon. "We'd best get going. These Sand People are easily startled, but they will come back, and in greater numbers.**

 **Penny whistled as the two moved towards Ruby's speeder. "Ren!" Ruby said, running back to her less-than-stellar hide. There, the two found the droid laying on his back, his left arm severed and lying a few feet away.**

" **Where are we?" Ren said, "I must have taken a bad step."**

" **Can you stand? We gotta get out of here before the Sand People come back." Ruby asked him.**

" **I don't think I can make it. You go on, Mistress Ruby. There's no sense in you risking yourself on my account, I'm done for."**

"Not only a bitch, but a defeatist bitch." Yang said disapprovingly.

"Not exactly batting a thousand, am I?" Ren frowned.

" **What the hell kind of talk is that?"**

" **Quickly," Taiyang urged, grabbing Ren under his arms, "They're on the move." Together, he and Ruby lifted Ren to his feet and made their way to Tai's place beyond the desert.**

 **Once there, they settled in and began chatting while Ruby fixed up Ren, cleaning him up and reattaching his arm. Somehow, they managed to get on the topic of Ruby's mother.**

" **Nah, my mom didn't fight in the wars." Ruby laughed off Tai's statements as she tightened some bolts on Ren's shoulder, "She was a navigator on a spice freighter."**

" **That's what your uncle told you." Tai said. It was a statement, not a question, so Ruby knew he could read her somehow. "He didn't hold your mother's ideals, thought she should have stayed here and not gotten involved."**

"And this version of me is obviously an idiot." Qrow said. "If he really thought Summer would just sit back and stay neutral in literally anything, he clearly didn't know her."

"This is true." Tai agreed. "Been like that since Beacon."

" **Are you saying you fought in the Clone Wars?" Ruby asked.**

" **Yes." Tai chuckled, "I was once a Jedi Knight the same as your mother." He leaned back and stroked his chin pensively.**

"Knights? Does that make us some kind of nobility?" Summer asked, going off her own knowledge about knights from history.

"Follow-up question: does that mean that we are as well?" Yang added, looking at Ruby.

"What in the heck is a Jedi is what I'm wondering." Ruby added.

" **I wish I had known her." Ruby said sadly.**

" **She was the best starpilot in the galaxy, and a cunning warrior. I understand you've become quite a good pilot yourself." Tai said making Ruby stutter bashfully. "And she was a good friend. Which reminds me, I have something here for you." He stood up and walked over to a chest on the wall. "Your mother wanted you to have this when you were old enough, but your uncle would never allow it." he rummaged through the chest and pulled out a short metal tube. "He was afraid you might follow Old Taiyang on some damn fool idealistic crusade like your mother did."**

" **Ma'am, if you'll not be needing me, I'll close down for a while." Ren said to Ruby. When she given him the go ahead, he leaned forward, his eyes stopped glowing and he simply sat there like a statue.**

" **What is it?" Ruby asked, taking the proffered tube. It was heavier than she'd expected, and assumed there were some internal workings to it.**

" **Your mother's lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight." Tai explained. Ruby pressed a button on the side and a two and a half foot beam of light burst from the tip. It hummed with every movement she made.**

Ruby's eyes widened when she saw the weapon. "Woah!" was all she could manage as her mind swarmed with too many questions to keep track of.

"That's actually pretty cool." Yang said, impressed.

" **Not as random or clumsy as blaster. An elegant weapon, for a more civilized age. For over a thousand generations the Jedi were protectors of peace and justice in the Old Republic." He sat back down. "Before the dark times. Before the Empire."**

 **The lightsaber hissed when Ruby deactivated it. She held the weapon in her hand, amazed by the technology. Then a question entered her mind. "How did my mother die?" she asked, sitting down next to Taiyang.**

 **Tai took a breath before answering. "A young Jedi by the name of Darth Vader- who was a pupil of mine until she turned to evil- helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights. She betrayed and murdered your mother. Now, the Jedi are all but extinct."**

"Okay that sounds less like a Raven thing." Summer admitted.

"Unless she thought the Jedi were weak or something." Qrow said with venom. He had always hated her sister's strong-weak philosophy.

"If anything, it sounds kinda like a Cinder thing." Mercury admitted.

Emerald wound up to hit him, but Cinder stopped her. "He's not entirely wrong."

" **Vader was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force."**

" **The Force?" Ruby asked, confused.**

 **Tai smiled, happy to move away from so dark a topic. "The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together."**

"I like that." Ren said, a small smile on his face. "An amalgamation of souls that interconnects all things sounds rather lovely."

"I agree." Pyrrha said.

"It's like everyone is one huge family." Nora said.

 **Penny whistled, interrupting the conversation. "Now, my little friend, let's see if we can't figure out what you are and where you come from."**

" **I saw a part of a message she was carrying- " Ruby said.**

" **I seem to have found it." Tai said. Sure enough, Ruby turned around and saw the same holo-message from before being projected in front of Taiyang.**

" **General Xiao Long," The image of Weiss said with a bow, "Years ago, you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now he begs you to aid him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret I am unable to bring you this message in person, but my ship had fallen under attack and I'm afraid my mission to bring you to Atlas has failed. I have placed information vital to the survival of the rebellion into the memory systems of this P3 unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Atlas. This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Taiyang Xiao Long, you're my only hope." The image faded away and Taiyang sat back, deep in thought. He looked to Ruby.**

"Huh, an inciting incident combined with exposition and background." Blake nodded in appreciation. "Say what you will, but the writers definitely know what they're doing.

" **You must learn the ways of the Force, if you're to come with me to Atlas." He said with a small smile.**

" **Atlas?" Ruby said incredulously and then laughed lightly, "I'm not going to Atlas. I've gotta get home. It's late, I'm in for it as it is!"**

" **I need your help, Ruby. She needs your help." Tai pleaded, "I'm getting too old for this sort of thing."**

"I'm 39, dammit!" Tai yelled.

"Yeah, but this you looks old enough to be the girls' grandfather! Now hush." Summer said firmly.

 **Ruby knew he was right, and she wanted to help, but her ingrained sense of duty was overriding everything else. "I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire, I hate it, but there's nothing I can do about it right now. Besides, it's such a long way from here."**

"Wow, that is really out of character for you, Ruby." Weiss commented.

"Right?" she agreed.

" **That's your uncle talking." Taiyang said matter-of-factly.**

" **My uncle. Man, how am I gonna explain this?"**

" **Learn about the Force, Ruby." Tai pressed.**

 **Ruby sighed, considering her reasonable options, the ones that both duty and her conscious allowed. "Look, I can take you as far as Anchorhead. You can get a transport there to Mos Eisley or wherever you're going."**

" **You must do what you think is right, of course."**

* * *

 **Okay, now that we have that out of the way, let's see how long it takes for the gears to start turning.**

 **One last thing before I go. I spent a good portion of my time at work yesterday thinking about money. Specifically, how many writers monetize their work here. It got me thinking: should I start up a Pat-reon account? I mean, it did occur to me when I was just starting out, but I wrote it off as unrealistic. There was no way this piece of crap was gonna get popular. But then something I didn't expect happened: it got popular.**

 **I mean, look at this, there are nearly 900 people reading this around the world. That fact alone is mind-boggling to me. And then the possible implications came to me. Rounding down to the nearest hundred, if each of those 800 followers donated just one measly dollar a month, a mere hobby of mine would actually become a secondary source of income for me. Combined with my weekly paycheck- cuz obviously I would still be working- it could pay for my monthly rent, my subscriptions fees, my personal food budget, and I'd probably still have enough left over to put into savings. and all of that for less than the cost of a vending machine soda.**

 **But then the question becomes: is it the right thing to do? I mean, I don't own the rights to RWBY or any of the movies featured on here. Can I really justify monetizing this? I don't know. Maybe being a semi-professional writer is just a dream and I should just content myself with being an amateur, hobbyist fan-author. What do you guys think?**

 **Please remember to Follow, Favorite, and Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 8/6/19**


	38. Chapter 38- Star Wars, Part 4

**Hey guys! Not a whole lot say here, except to please reserve all judgements until after you read all the notes. Thank you.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 38

 **In the void of space, a star destroyer made its way to a massive grey orb, covered in trenches and metal plates, with a large circular indentation in the upper half.**

"Shot in the dark here," Nora said, "But I think that that is the Death Star."

"Sounds like a safe bet." Pyrrha agreed.

 **Within it, a group of men sat in a guarded meeting room. Most of them were old and grey, while a few others were several years younger. They were all of them clearly military and the middle of a heated discussion.**

" **Until this battle station is fully operational, we are vulnerable." One of the younger officers professed. "The Rebel Alliance is too well-equipped. They're more dangerous than you realize."**

 **One of his colleagues smiled, apparently finding his concern amusing. "Dangerous to** _ **your**_ **starfleet, commander. Not to this battle station." He said smugly.**

 **The commander inhaled, trying to control his temper. "The Rebellion will continue to gain support in the Imperial Senate, until- "**

" **The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us." A feminine voice said. A short female faunus with dark skin and hair and wearing a black army uniform walked into the room, followed closely by Darth Vader.**

Adam sneered, while the eyes of the Belladonnas, Ilia and Winter widened in recognition.

"Who dat?" Yang said, noticing the change in her partner.

"That is Sienna Khan, High Leader of the White Fang." Ghira explained.

"Formerly." Adam said smugly. The wolves around him growled in warning, and he just growled back.

 **Sienna took a seat in the only open spot at the table. "I have just received word that the Empress has dissolved the council permanently. The last vestiges of the Old Republic have been swept away."**

" **That's impossible." The first officer said, "How will the Empress maintain control without the bureaucracy?"**

" **The regional governors now have direct control over their territories." She explained, looking at each man in turn, "** _ **Fear**_ **will keep the local systems in line. Fear of this battle station."**

"Hmph, sounds like the leader of a terrorist organization." Weiss said.

"Actually, Ms. Schnee." Ghira said before Blake could say a word, "That is rather far from Sienna's normal character. I knew Sienna when she joined the ranks of the Fang. She was dedicated to the cause, and while she had no qualms using violence, she preferred to use it in self-defense at best, and with a clear logical goal in mind at worst. She was always rather adverse to terror tactics, even after she took over when I stepped down."

"That was years ago, sir." Winter argued, "Don't you think it's possible that she changed in the interim?"

"Entirely possible, obviously. But I know better thanks to my wife. She and Sienna go way back and kept in touch over the years. She even asked if Sienna would be godmother to Blake."

"Seriously? Your godmother was the leader of the White Fang?" Weiss asked Blake.

Blake shrugged. "It never came up, so I kept it to myself."

"Can we all shut up and watch the movie now?" Roman yelled out.

" **And what of the Rebellion?" The first officer asked. "If the rebels have obtained a complete technical read-out of this station, it is possible- however unlikely- that they might find a weakness, and exploit it."**

 **Sienna took his concerns more seriously than the other officer, or at least appeared to. Thankfully for her, Vader stepped in.**

" **The plans you are referring to will soon be back in our hands." She assured them.**

" **Any attack made by the rebels against this station would be a useless gesture, no matter what technical data they've obtained!" the other officer said, losing his patience with this pointless conversation about an impossible scenario. "This station is now the ultimate power in the universe. I suggest we use it."**

"Ugh, déjà vu." Glynda groaned, thinking of a certain Atlesian general they knew.

"He sounds like my father." Winter scowled.

" **Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed." Vader said, turning to face the man. "The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force."**

" **Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lady Vader." The man looked up at her with a sneer. "Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not help you conjour up the stolen data tapes, or given you clairvoyance enough to find the rebel's hidden fort- " he suddenly cut off and began to choke. Vader stood beside him, holding up a hand and pinching the air with her thumb and first two fingers.**

 **She leaned into him. "I find your lack of faith disturbing." You could almost feel the smug smile forming on her face under the mask.**

"How is she doing that?" Nora said, wide-eyed.

"This must be the power of the Force she mentioned." Ren posited.

"So, it's a form of telekinesis?" Pyrrha asked.

"I believe so, Ms. Nikos." Glynda said. She took an almost immediate interest, seeing how similar it appeared to be to her own Semblance. Perhaps she could use this in a fashion?

" **Enough of this!" Sienna ordered, "Vader, release him!"**

" **As you wish." As she walked off, the man fell forward on the table and gasped for air, his body greedily taking in the life-sustaining gas.**

" **This bickering is pointless." She stared at everyone, daring them to challenge her. "Now, Lady Vader will provide us with the location of the rebel fortress by the time this station is operational. We will then crush the Rebellion with one swift stroke."**

 **Back on the Desert Planet, Tai, Ruby and the droids beheld nothing short of a slaughter. The bodies of the creatures who found Ren and Penny were scattered about the ground, which was burned and scarred. Craters dotted the earth and chucks of metal were strewn about. Ruby and Tai walked among the bodies, trying to determine the cause, while Ren and Penny stayed off to the side.**

" **It looks like the Sand People, alright." Ruby said, "Look, there's ghaffi sticks, bantha tracks. I've just never heard of them hitting something this big before." She jammed the stick she was holding into the ground.**

" **They didn't." Tai said, "But we were meant to think they did. These track are side-by-side. Sand People always travel single file to hide their numbers."**

" **These are the same Jawas that sold us Penny and Ren." Ruby said.**

'At least now we have a name for them.' Yang thought, knowing now was not the time for a joke.

 **Tai took her shoulder, and pointed at the sand crawler. "And these blast points, far too accurate for Sand People. Only Imperial stormtroopers are so precise."**

" **But why would Imperial troops want to slaughter Jawas?" Ruby looked up at Ren and Penny, standing near her speeder, and the pieces started to fit. "If they traced them here, They may have learned who they sold them to and that would lead them back… home." Ruby took of for her speeder before Tai could stop her. She jumped in and took off at full throttle.**

 **She blazed over the desert, making a beeline for home. She slowed as she approached her home, her stomach dropping when she saw the smoke rising from within.**

" **Uncle Qrow! Aunt Vernal!" she called, hoping against hope that they yet still lived. She fell silent at the site of the charred corpses at the entrance, one male and one female. A tear fell down one cheek as she the reality sunk in. She was alone in the world. Her only family lay dead before her, her home in ruins. She looked down and away, trying to hold back the tears. Soon her grief turned to anger, and as she looked up, those silver eyes were filled with fierce determination.**

 **As she walked back to her speeder, she knew what she had to do next.**

"They didn't deserve that." Ruby said.

"No, they didn't." Penny agreed, not even knowing if Ruby meant the Jawas or her family.

 **A trio of TIE Fighters flew a patrol pattern near the Death Star as it hung in space. Inside, a pair of guards led Vader down a hallway with doors on either side of them: a cellblock. One of the guards opened the door, revealing Weiss sitting on the far end of the cell. Vader stepped inside.**

" **And now, your Highness, we will discuss the location of your hidden rebel base." She said, standing aside as a black floating orb entered the cell. It held a needle filled with a clear liquid and Weiss shied away, knowing what was to come.**

 **Unfortunately, we will never know the specifics as the door closed and all we got was a guard walking down the cellblock. Fucking cock-tease.**

"Well, that confirms it for me. This 'Empire' has officially fallen under the 'evil empire' trope." Blake said, making a note in a small notepad the Wolf had given her.

"Oooh, what else you got on there?" Yang said, looking over Blake's shoulder.

 _Shadow- Vader_

 _Damsel in distress- Weiss_

 _Empire-_ _evil?_ _Confirmed evil_

 _Hero- Ruby_

 _Mentor- Taiyang_

 _Herald of change- Penny_

"Have you been working on this the whole time?" Yang asked.

"Just on this one movie." Blake said a little guiltily.

 **Ruby pulled up to the wrecked sand-crawler, where Ren and Penny were stacking the dead Jawas on a funeral pyre. Tai saw the expression on her face, and knew what had happened from that alone. He walked up to her, to offer what solace he could.**

" **There's nothing you could have done Ruby." He told her, somewhat surprised that she wasn't crying. "You'd have been killed too. And the droids would now be in the hands of the Empire."**

 **She looked up at him. "I want to come with you to Atlas." She said calmly, "There's nothing left for me here. I want to learn the ways of the Force, and become a Jedi like my mother."**

"Threshold crossed…" Blake mumbled, scribbling on the notepad again.

 **Tai simply took her shoulder, the fact that he was getting his way overshadowed by the reality of Ruby's situation. After the last of the Jawas was put to rest, everyone piled into the speeder and they took off. A few hours later, they sat on a ridge overlooking a bustling metropolis in the middle of the desert.**

" **Mos Eisley Space Port." Taiyang said, "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious."**

 **The town itself was madness. Droids were everywhere, doing all the heavy lifting in the sun, while the meatbags toiled in the shade, acting as merchants and laborers. Speeders filled the streets, and low-level aircraft buzzed overhead. One individual on a speeder biker almost crashed into some kind of brachiosaur animal carrying a pair of Jawas, but swerved at the last minute. The animal reared back, throwing one Jawa off, while the other held on for dear life as he hung from the reins.**

 **As they approached the center of town, they were stopped by a team of stormtroopers. Ruby complied, not wanting to cause any trouble, and the leader of the troopers approached her.**

"This can't end well." Weiss said.

" **How long have you had these droids?" he asked.**

" **Three, four seasons." She lied.**

" **They're up for sale if you want them." Tai added.**

" **Let me see your identification." He ordered.**

" **You don't need to see her identification." Taiyang said with a small grin, making a small gesture with his hands.**

" **We don't need to see her identifications." The trooper said to his men.**

"Wait, what?"

" **These aren't the droids you're looking for."**

" **These aren't the droids we're looking for."**

"What?"

" **She can go about her business."**

" **You can go about your business."**

"Are you serious?!"

" **Move along."**

" **Move along." He waved them forward, his squad backing up from the speeder. "Move along." Ruby happily complied and didn't speak again until they stopped outside a collection of stone buildings.**

"What the hell just happened?" Weiss said, astonished that that had just happened.

"I'm gonna guess the Force just happened." Jaune said. "You, uh, you wanna take that back, Ice Queen?"

"Cram it, Arc!"

" **I don't get how we got past those troops, I thought we were dead." She said, shooing a Jawa away from her speeder.**

" **The Force can have a strong influence on the weak-minded." Tai said, expecting that to count as an explanation.**

"Okay, I know it's rich coming from me, but that is bullshit." Pyrrha said.

"Telekinesis and mind manipulation?" Qrow chuckled.

"No man should have these powers." Winter said. Blake blushed as certain… implications entered her mind.

 **Accepting that that was the best she was likely to get, she looked at the building they were headed to. "So, do you really we're gonna find a pilot here who can take us to Atlas?"**

" **Well, most of the best freighter pilots can be found here. But, watch your step. This place can get a bit rough."**

" **I'm ready for anything." Ruby said, patting the lightsaber hanging from her belt.**

 **They walked in on a bustling cantina, filled to the gills with people, though only a few were actually human. The vast majority were aliens, no better way to put it. Vast majority of the patrons were leaning against the bar, drinking and smoking, while more filled the tables lining the walls.**

"Wow, now this is freaky." Nora said.

"Putting things a little mildly, don't you think?" Yang said.

"This music is pretty catchy." Coco said, tapping her foot to the beat.

"Hey, Wolf Guy!" Sun said.

" _Once the movie is over, Mr. Wukong."_

 **Ruby entered with Ren and Penny close by only to be stopped by the bartender.**

" **Hey! We don't serve their kind here." He said.**

" **What?" Ruby said, confused.**

" **Your droids! They'll have to wait outside, we don't want them here."**

" **Why don't you wait by the speeder? We don't want any trouble." She said to Ren.**

" **I whole-heartedly agree, ma'am." He said, walking back up the stairs and leading Penny outside. Ruby meanwhile, walked up to the bar, taking a spot between Taiyang and a pair of twins with black hair, though one had shorter hair than the other, and wearing matching outfits in red and white respectively. She caught the bartender's attention and asked for whatever Tai was drinking.**

"Ah, great it's those guys." Yang groaned.

"Hey, aren't they from that night club- " Neptune started to say.

"Sun! shut him up ASAP!" Yang cried, turning to her fellow blonde with red-eyed urgency.

"- you trashed before you came to Beacash sh vuv, sh vuv sh hunna HAMAM nonna ma!"

Yang tied to hide from the gaze her mom was shooting her way, but failed. She could taste the pure unholy motherly fury Summer was ready to unleash on her daughter.

 **She looked around the room, just innocently people-watching when she was forcefully turned to face the twin in red who spoke at her in a language she didn't understand. Not knowing what had just happened, she let it go and turned back to her drink. No sooner had it touched her lips than she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see it was the longer-haired twin in white.**

" **She doesn't like you." She said, pointing to her sneering sister.**

" **I'm sorry." Ruby said, trying desperately to make herself invisible.**

 **The white twin made her look at her. "I don't like you either. You better watch yourself. We're wanted women. I have the death sentence in twelve systems."**

" **I'll be careful." She said, wishing they would go away.**

" **You'll be dead!"**

" **This little one isn't worth your time." Taiyang said, intervening on Ruby's behalf. "Now, let me buy you a drink."**

 **With a roar, the white twin shoved Ruby to the side, throwing her into a table. Tai went for his lightsaber, while Melanie went for a blaster. Tai managed to parry the first shot and reversed into a slash, the blue blade cutting off Melanie's arm above the elbow and cauterizing the wound to prevent blood loss. Calmly, he returned to a standing position, daring anyone to try something, anything. When nobody did, he deactivated his saber. The other patrons returned to their business, the music resumed and Tai helped Ruby to her feet.**

" **Thanks." She said with a grunt.**

" **Hurry, I think I've found a ship that might suit us." He urged.**

"Okay , now I really want one of those lightsabers!" Ruby said, vibrating in her seat with excitement, "OH! Maybe I could modify Crescent Rose to have a blade like that! If only I knew the composition of the blade itself…"

* * *

 **And done. Now we wait to see if I am a true Star Wars fan or if I am nothing more than a wannabe.**

 **Before anyone says anything about Sienna, let me explain. This is essentially me creating my own canon for Sienna. For me, Sienna is one of RT's biggest missed opportunities. She could have been a really interesting character if she had been used as anything other than to make Adam less sympathetic. In a way, she's like Pyrrha; killed off before she could become interesting.**

 **And no, this is not me bashing Pyrrha. This is me thinking critically about her character. Of course, I adore her and wanted to see what her relationship with Jaune could have become, but she was ultimately nothing more than a stepping stone for Jaune's character later on when she could have been so much more.**

 **Man, I am gonna get some hate reviews about this.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite, and Review, and I will catch you later.**


	39. Chapter 39- Star Wars, Part 5

**Bit of a shorter chapter, but what can ya do?**

 **On an unrelated note, IT'S MAH BIRTHDAY! And I have to post this from work... Fuck you managers who make the schedule.  
**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 39

"So, sis, you come up with anything for your baby's upgrade?" Yang asked, stuffing some popcorn in her mouth.

"All I have right now are theories." Ruby frowned, "The hard part is figuring out what the blade is made of that makes it able to cut through flesh like a hot knife through butter."

"Maybe it's hard light, like what I use?" Velvet said.

"It's possible, but I don't think so. The blade looks solid, and hard light constructs are usually transparent to a degree. The best I can come up with is some kind of contained plasma technology."

"Think later, movie now." Nora shushed them.

 **Outside, Ren and Penny were waiting by the speeder. A squad of stormtroopers had arrived nearby and were talking to some locals. Neither could quite figure out what they were talking about, but the pointing didn't seem good.**

" **I don't like the look of this." Ren said to his counterpart, who whistled in agreement.**

 **Back inside, Tai and Ruby sat down at a table across from a pair of young women. One was fair-skinned with long black hair and matching cat ears on her head, while the other was slightly tanned, and had long blonde hair and laughing lilac eyes.**

"Oh yeah, time for my big screen debut without being a tool." Yang cheered.

"I guess there's no Faunus discrimination if I'm not hiding my ears." Blake shrugged.

" **Yang Xiao Long, I'm captain of the Millennium Falcon." She introduced herself as she sat down. Ruby's eyes widened and she looked between Yang and Tai. There weren't any physical similarities, as far as she could tell. Yang was blonde with lilac eyes, while Taiyang had light blue eyes and was grey, bordering on white. This, combined with the fact that Tai had to have at least 40 years on her, made Ruby conclude the name was merely a weird coincidence. "Blake here tells me you're looking for passage to the Atlas system."**

" **That's right, if it's a fast ship." Tai said.**

" **A fast ship? You've never heard of the Millennium Falcon?"**

" **Should I have?"**

" **It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs." Seeing their looks of disbelief, she got a little irritated.**

"Is that good?" Ruby asked Weiss.

To her surprise, Weiss shrugged. "I don't even know what a parsec is." She admitted.

" _It is a unit of astral distance measurement."_ Logan told them.

"So this Kessel Run usually takes 12 parsecs to complete, and Yang claims to have done so in less?" Weiss said.

" _Yes."_

"So, she cheated." Blake guessed.

" _Not exactly. She simply took a shorter, albeit far more dangerous route than the norm."_

" **I've outrun Imperial star ships. And not the local bulk transports, I'm talking the big Correllian ones, ya hear? She's fast enough for you, old man. What's the cargo?"**

" **Just passengers. Myself, the girl, two droids, and** _ **no questions asked**_ **."**

 **Yang chuckled at that. "What is it? Some kind of local trouble?"**

" **Let's just say we'd rather avoid any Imperial entanglements."**

" **Well, that's the real trick isn't it?" Yang said, leaning back, "And it's gonna cost you something extra. 10,000. All in advance."**

"Sounds about right." Roman said.

"How do you figure?" Qrow asked.

"And how would you know?" Winter added.

"Everybody has to start somewhere." Roman shrugged, "I ran a little smuggling and laundering ring as part of my, enterprises, before I moved up to full robbery. How else do you think I was able to move so much Dust out of Vale without it being tracked? As for the cost, staying out of the way of the law can get dangerous, so a little premium is about par for the course. Think of it like putting down a deposit on a new apartment."

" **10,000?" Ruby said in disbelief, "We could almost buy our ship with that."**

" **And who's gonna fly it, kid? You?" Yang teased.**

" **You bet I could! I'm not such a bad pilot myself. Let's get- " she began to stand up to leave, but Tai pulled her gently back down into her seat.**

 **He turned back to Yang with a smile. "We can pay you 2,000 now, plus 15 when we reach Atlas." He offered.**

" **17?" Yang had a hard time believing the old man really had that kind of money on him. When he nodded back, she began to grin. "Alright, you got a deal. We'll leave as soon as you're ready. Docking bay 94."**

" **94." Tai said, to make sure he would remember.**

 **Yang looked across the room. "Looks like someone's taken an interest in your handiwork." She nodded in the direction of a pair of stormtroopers who were talking to Junior. As they passed the table, Tai and Ruby were gone, with only Yang and Blake sitting there staring at them.**

 **Once they had passed them by, Yang's smile returned. "17,000! Man, those guys must really be desperate. This could really save our necks here."**

" **Our necks?" Blake said with an arched eyebrow.**

" **Fine, fine, my neck. Just get back to the ship and get her ready." As Yang was about to leave the table, a green alien with spikes in place of hair came up and placed the barrel of a gun against her chest.**

" _ **Going somewhere, Xiao Long?"**_ **he said in his native tongue.**

" **Yes, Greedo, as a matter of fact, I was just about to go see your boss. Tell Roman I've got his money." Yang kept backing up until she was seated again.**

" _ **It's too late. You should have paid him when you had the chance."**_ **Greedo replied, taking a seat across from her, the gun still pointed center of mass.** _ **"Roman's put a price on your head so large every bounty hunter in the galaxy will be looking for you. I'm lucky I found you first."**_

" **Yeah, but this time, I've got the money." She assured him, calmly putting her legs on the table.**

" _ **If you give it to me, I might forget I found you."**_

" **I don' have it with me, tell Roman- "**

 _ **Roman's through with you!"**_ **Greedo said,** _ **"He has no time for smugglers who drop their cargo at the first sign of an Imperial cruiser."**_

" **Even I get boarded sometimes. Ya think I had a choice?" she threw back. Unbeknownst to Greedo, she had calmly and quietly drawn the blaster pistol on her hip and had it aimed at his chest.**

" _ **Tell that to Roman. He may only take your ship."**_

 **Yang's entire expression darkened at that. "Over my dead body."**

" _ **That's the idea. I've been looking forward to this for a long time."**_

" **Yeah, I'll bet you have!" a second and the sound of blaster fire later, Greedo lay facedown on the table, his body smoking from the hole the blaster left in him. Yang was none the worse for wear and casually stood up. She tossed a coin to Junior. "Sorry about the mess." She said as she walked out.**

"Mmmm-mm! I like this me." Yang grinned.

"You just killed a guy." Coco pointed out.

"Who had a gun on me. It was self-defense, at worst."

"Sounds like you're some kind of crime boss, boss." Neo signed, as she went for another pint.

"As it was meant to be, you little traitor. As it was meant to be." He said, making Neo playfully stick her tongue out at him.

 **On the Death Star, Vader was giving Sienna her report regarding the princess's interrogation.**

" **Her resistance to the mind probe is considerable." She said, pacing, "It will be some time before we can extract any information from her."**

" **The final check-up is complete." An officer reported to Sienna, "All systems are operational. What course shall we set?"**

" **Perhaps she would respond to an alternative form of persuasion." Sienna posited.**

" **What do you mean?" Vader asked.**

" **I think it is time we demonstrated the full power of this battle station. Set your course for Atlas." She ordered.**

" **With pleasure." The officer said with an audible grin.**

 **Back on the sand ball, Ren and Penny were busy dodging patrols. Currently, they were hiding in the entrance to a hab-unit.**

" **Lock the door, P3." Ren said. Penny complied and a metal door swung closed in front of Ren. A unit of stormtroopers came up, armed to the teeth.**

" **Alright, check this side of the street." The leader ordered. He knocked on the door the droids were hiding behind a few times. "Doors locked. Move on to the next one." He ordered.**

"Okay, how does that work?" Yang said.

"I gotta agree with Yang." Emerald said, surprising herself, "Knocking on a door a few times doesn't tell you jack about it other than what it's made of."

"Well, then, Master Thief Emerald, tell us how it's done." Mercury teased.

"Well, normally I would try the door knob. But then, no door knob to speak of, so the easy way is out."

"It looks to be a fairly advanced system. By our standards, at least." Roman observed, "If you had the proper tools, you could probably disable the lock using a control panel of some kind."

"But then there's the politics to consider." Winter added, "These soldiers are most likely some kind of garrison, so they can't simply break into people's houses as part of a search and sweep. At least, not legally. Wait, why am I backing up the arguments of known terrorists?"

"I dunno, why are you?" Neo signed, just for giggles.

 **When they were sure the troopers had walked off, Penny opened the door.**

" **I would much rather have gone with Mistress Ruby than stay here with you." He said to Penny. "I don't know what all this trouble is about, but I'm sure it's your fault." Penny blurped at him. "You watch your language!" He scolded as she closed the door again.**

 **In the town market, Ruby and Tai were finishing up negotiations for the price of her speeder.**

" **Alright, gimme it." she sighed. She handed the merchant the keys to the speeder and he handed over the money. "Look at this. Ever since the XP-38 came out they just haven't been in demand."**

" **It'll be enough. I'm just sorry you had to sell your speeder." Tai said**

" **Ah, it's alright. I'm never coming back to this planet again."**

 **As they made their way to the docking bay, they had no idea that they were being followed by a blue alien with a long, trunk-like snout wearing a black hooded robe.**

 **A large slug-like creature with dark-orange coloring stood (is stood the right word in this case?) outside of a large spaceship, with several armed guards in red and black as back-up.**

" _ **Xiao Long! Get your blonde ass out here now!"**_ **he yelled.**

" **I'm right here, Roman." She said, standing behind him. "Been waiting for ya."**

"OH, GODS! IS THAT WHAT I LOOK LIKE!?" Roman yelled in disgust and horror.

"KILL IT WITH FIRE!" Neo signed.

" _ **Have you now?"**_ **he chortled.**

" **You didn't think I was gonna run, did ya?" she said with a cocky grin as she approached him.**

" _ **You? Never. Not your style. But apparently, killing my men and missing payments is."**_ **Roman said as he shuffled to meet her.**

" **Look, Roman, next time you wanna talk to me, do it yourself. Don't send one of these twerps."**

" _ **Now, now, you know I can't make exceptions like that. If every smuggler who worked for me dropped their cargo at the first sign of an Imperial ship, nothing would ever get around. It's just bad for business."**_

"At least you still have that famous silver tongue, Boss." Neo signed, trying to cheer up her boss.

"Yeah, but Blondie's game is just as good." Roman whined, "Without my devilish good looks, I'm nothing!"

"Devilish good looks?" Mercury laughed.

"Can it, asshat!" Neo signed, before ramming said sign over Mercury's head leaving the lad unconscious.

" **Look, Roman, even I get boarded sometimes." She walked around behind him, stepping on his tail as she did. "You think I had a choice? But I got a nice easy charter now. I can pay you back everything I owe, plus a little extra~, I just need enough time to hop over to Atlas and back."**

" _ **Yang, you're the best smuggler around, so for an extra twenty percent- "**_

" **Fifteen, Roman. Don't push it."**

" _ **Alright, fifteen. However, fail again, and you'll have a price on your head so big your own mother would turn you in."**_

" **Roman, you're a wonderful human being." Yang said as she walked up the ramp into the ship.**

"Uh, anyone else notice the particular coloration on that one henchman?" Yang said nervously.

"Adam." Blake said grimly.

"Back off, bull-boy. I got dibs on the red and black color scheme." Ruby glared at Adam.

"Bull-boy?" Adam repeated. Okay, that was a new one.

 **"If the ship's as fast as his boasting," Tai said as they turned into the hangar, "We ought to make good time."**

 **They were greeted by Blake, and led inside. The alien following them pulled out a communicator and said something into it. His language barely even sounded like a language, just a bunch of weird electronic noises.**

 **Entering the hangar proper, Ruby and Tai got their first looks at the ship that would take them to Atlas. It was big, sure, but not exactly impressive. It was shaped like a massive tear drop with two tips and a cockpit sticking out of one side, and it was colored a mixture of tan and grey.**

 **"What a piece of junk!" Ruby said.**

"Oh, that's real nice." Yang said.

 **"She'll make point-five past light speed." Yang said, looking up from her work. "She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid. Not to mention, I've made a few special modifications myself. However, we're on a bit of a timetable, so, if you don't mind?..." she gestured to the boarding ramp, ignoring the droid who greeted her.**

 **A platoon of stormtroopers walked through the spaceport single file until the robed alien ran up to them.**

 **"Which way?" The leader asked. The spy said something in his weird language and pointed towards the _Falcon's_ hangar. "Got it. Load your weapons, men." They filed into the hangar and spread out in the entrance, creating a firing line. Yang's eyes widened and her hand fell to her blaster. "Stop that ship! Blast 'em!"**

 **Yang returned fire, quickly making her way to and up the boarding ramp. "Blake, get us out of here!"**

 **The _Falcon_ slowly lifted into the air and fired it's sublight engines, taking it out of the spaceport at speeds that were nowhere near legal.**

 **"Radar's picking up some bogeys." Blake said.**

 **Yang looked herself. "Looks like an Imperial cruiser. Our guests must be hotter than I thought." she stood up and began working on the switches behind her chair. "Try and hold 'em off. Angle the deflector shields while I make the calculations for the jump to light speed."**

 **In the void, a pair of star destroyers began to gain on the ship.**

 **"Stay sharp, there's two more." Yang said, getting back into her seat. "They're gonna try and cut us off."**

 **"Why don't you outrun them?" Ruby said snidely as she and Tai entered the cockpit. "I thought you said this thing was fast."**

 **"Watch your mouth, kid, or you're gonna find yourself floating home." Yang warned, her eyes turning red for a moment. "We'll be safe enough once we make the jump to hyperspace. Besides, I know a few maneuvers. We'll lose 'em easy enough."**

 **"How long before you can make the jump to light speed?" Tai asked as the ship was rocked by fire from their pursuers.**

 **"It'll take a moment to get the coordinates from the navicomputer-"**

 **"Are you kidding? At the rate their gaining?" Ruby said impatiently.**

 **"Traveling through hyperspace ain't like dusting crops, girl." Yang said annoyed, "Without precise calculations, we'd fly right through a star, or bounce too close to a supernova, and that'd end your trip real quick, wouldn't it?"**

 **"What's that flashing?" Ruby said, pointing at an indicator.**

 **Yang slapped her hand away. "We're losing the deflector shields. Go strap yourselves in, I'm gonna make the jump to hyperspace."**

 **"Coordinates locked." Blake reported. Yang reached forth and pulled on a lever. The _Falcon_ seemed to hang in space for a moment. Suddenly, the stars began to elongate and the _Falcon_ shot forward, disappearing into the void.**

* * *

 **And that, younglings, is how the cantina scene originally went. No head movement, no nothin'. Han fired, and Greedo died. End of discussion. Those who argue will be banned for they are heretics.**

 **So, ever since Vader was outed as a woman, I've had folks complaining about her. First off, it's not unusual for me to change the genders of characters like this. For proof, see Jurassic Park. The second biggest complaint is how she wouldn't know Ruby is her daughter. The answer to that is two-fold.**

 **Firstly, Vader didn't even mention Luke by name until Empire, and even then they never met face-to-face until Cloud City (as far as movie lore goes). Secondly, guys, it's the internet. Crazy shit like this isn't uncommon. If I really have to explain this to you, then you have a purer mind than I. Let us just say that Vader is the mother, but she's also the one who planted the seed, so to say.**

 **Don't forget to Follow, Favorite and Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 8/20/19 (I legit just forgot to post one last week, but you all know the deal by this point.)**

 **Edit: So, a few of my lovely readers pointed put that the escape from Mos Eisley was missing when I posted this. Honest, I know for a fact that I wrote that scene, I remember doing it, but it must have gotten lost when I was doing a bit of editing from the last few chapters. Anyway, it's fixed now, as you can plainly see.**


	40. Chapter 40- Star Wars, Part 6

**Another week, another chapter. And if I have learned anything over the past week it is this: If anybody from Rooster Teeth, especially Achievement Hunter, offers you a taco, you take that fucking taco. Nothing else matters. You fucking take the taco or else you'll end up like Chad James.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 40

"So JNPR, you guys have been pretty quiet lately. Everything alright?" Yang asked.

"Huh? Yeah, of course." Jaune answered. "It's just, none of us have had a major role yet, so there's not much reason for us to comment, ya know?"

"Plus, Nora is really into this and doesn't want any interruptions." Pyrrha added.

"And you do?" Nora fired back. "If I recall correctly, you two have been sucking face for the last fifteen minutes."

"Nora…" Ren sighed as Jaune and Pyrrha turned crimson

 **The Death Star entered orbit over a world of blue seas and landmasses covered in green plains and white tundras. Escorted by Vader, Weiss was brought aboard the bridge and led before Sienna.**

" **Governor Khan," she said, "I should have known you'd be holding Vader's leash. I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board."**

" **Charming, to the last." Sienna smiled. "You have no idea how difficult is was for me to sign the order to terminate your life."**

"Sister, does this pattern of speech seem familiar to you as well?" Winter asked.

"Unfortunately, yes." Weiss sighed.

"Father." They said in unison.

" **I'm surprised you had the courage to do it yourself."**

" **Princess Weiss, before your execution, I would like you to be my guest at a ceremony that will make this battle station operational. No star system will dare oppose the Empire now."**

" **The more you tighten your grasp, the more systems will slip through your fingers." Weiss taunted.**

" **Not after we demonstrate the power of this station." She fired back. "In a way, you have determined the first system to be destroyed. Since you have refused to cooperate with us and tell us where the rebel base is, I have decided to test this station's destructive power on your home planet of Atlas."**

"I still can't believe that claim." Glynda said. "No weapon on the face of Remnant has the power to destroy a planet."

"It's science-fiction, Glynda." Ozcar said, "Such things are rare, but par for the course."

 **Weiss' defiance melted in an instant and she began to plead with Sienna, "No! Atlas is peaceful! We have no weapons, you can't- "**

" **You have another target? A military target? Then name the system!" Sienna glared at her. When she didn't respond, she got up in Weiss' face. "I grow tired of asking, so it will be the last time. Where is the rebel base?"**

 **Weiss tried to resist, but between Vader at her back, Sienna breathing down her neck and the sight of her defenseless home world, she folded. "Dantooine." She sighed, "They're on Dantooine."**

 **Sienna smiled, "You see, Lady Vader, she can be reasonable." She turned to one of her subalterns. "Continue with the operation. You may fire when ready."**

" **What?!"**

" **You're far too trusting." Sienna smiled coldly, "Dantooine is too remote a target to make an effective demonstration, but don't worry. We'll deal with your rebel friends soon enough."**

Adam was taken aback. 'Where was this Sienna back in the old days?'

"How can she do this?!" Ruby yelled, "She gave them up!"

"This role really feels like Father should play it." Weiss said, "This kind of ruthlessness is just like him."

"Weiss!"

"Ruby, think about it. Sienna never said she wouldn't destroy Atlas if I named the system and she needs to set an example. Destroying a planet like this- "

"Still don't buy it!" Glynda called.

"Is the perfect opportunity."

"Plus, she's the bad guy, Ruby." Blake said, "Is it really so surprising?"

" **NO!" Weiss tried to run to the window, but Vader held her back.**

 **In the control room, men in black helmets pressed a series of buttons and a power down sound was heard. In a metal tunnel, two men ducked as a massive beam of green energy shot past them. Outside, eight beams met at a central point, merging into a larger beam that shot the planet before them and destroyed it in a massive explosion. It was so massive that the shock wave could be seen as a flaming halo.**

To say the least, the theater was shocked. No one had expected it would happen, but the proof is in the pudding. One second Atlas was hanging in the void, the next it was space dust. Weiss' hands were cracking her arm rests as tears formed in her eyes.

"Holy shit." Roman whispered.

'Such destruction!' Salem thought, 'The magic of the Old Kingdoms is no match. Not even the Maidens wield such might, even together. This power… it rivals even the Gods themselves.' And mortals had made it. 'I may need to rethink my plans. If a single empire, though most likely massive and galaxy-spanning, was able to create something with that much destructive potential, what could the Four Kingdoms united do?'

 **On the** _ **Falcon**_ **, Taiyang grabbed his heart and sat down. Ruby, who held her lightsaber before her while an orb the size of a baseball floated in front of her, saw the obvious distress on his face and came over to him.**

" **Are you alright?" she asked, voice full of concern, "What's wrong?"**

" **I just felt a great disturbance in the Force. As if millions of voices cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened. You'd better, get on with your exercises." He told Ruby as he hung his head.**

" **Welp," Yang said, clapping her hands as she came from the bridge, "You can forget about those Imperial slugs. Told you I'd outrun 'em." When nobody moved to thank her, she looked around. The Old Man was watching the Kid play with her laser-sword, blocking a pair of laser blasts the floating ball shot at her with the sword. Blake was playing a game with Pinky, while Spearmint watched. "Well, don't everybody thank me at once." She grumbled. "Anyway, we should be reaching Atlas in a few minutes."**

"Or what remains of it." Weiss growled.

 **Penny pressed a button, setting up a trap on the game she was playing with Blake. Blake saw the trap and moved one of her pieces to break it. What she didn't anticipate was the secondary trap she had walked into when Penny moved another piece to take out one of Blake's more powerful pieces.**

" **Fucking cheating bucket of bolts!" Blake yelled.**

" **What? She made a fair move. Screaming about it won't help." Ren said, trying to placate her.**

" **BullSHIT it was fair!"**

" **Bit of advice: it ain't wise to upset a Faunus." Yang warned Ren.**

" **But ma'am, nobody worries about upsetting a droid." Ren countered.**

" **That's cuz droids don't rip people's arms out of their sockets when they lose. Faunus are known to do that." Blake simply smiled and put her hands behind her head.**

Everyone slowly turned to look at the nearest Faunus, namely the Belladonnas.

"There are cases of certain more… aggressive types of Faunus who have troubles managing their anger." Blake explained.

"Such as?" Weiss asked.

"You know, gorillas, alligators and crocodiles, sharks…" she mumbled the last one.

"Speak up, Blakey." Yang teased.

"Cats! Okay? Cats! But only the larger breeds, like lions and tigers!"

" **I see your point, ma'am. Penny, I suggest a new strategy: let the Faunus win."**

 **Blake chuckled and stuck her tongue out at Yang.**

 **Ruby had ignited her lightsaber again and was watching the orb floating in front of her. It was covered in small laser barrels and was constantly changing position vertically and horizontally. Occasionally, it would fire a small bolt at Ruby, which she would block with her blade. Taiyang watched her, analyzing her style and looking for faults, though the ones he did find were minor at best. There was one thing though: she was too conscious of everything.**

" **Remember, a Jedi can feel the Force flowing through them." He reminded her.**

" **You mean it controls your actions?" Ruby asked, dropping her guard a little.**

" **To a degree, but it also obeys your commands."**

 **Thinking on this, Ruby missed a block and a laser bolt hit her in the thigh. It stung like a bitch, but left no mark, not even a singe in her breaches.**

 **Yang laughed at her misfortune. "Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a blaster at your side, kid." She said.**

" **You don't believe in the Force, do you?" Ruby asked, deactivating her saber.**

" **Kid, I've been from one side of this galaxy to the other. I've seen a lot of strange things, but I've never seen anything to make me believe there's one all powerful Force controlling everything." Yang said, drawing from experience, "There's no mystical energy field controls my destiny. It's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense."**

"Wow, Firecracker, you sound old spouting out all that truth." Qrow teased his niece.

"Does he really believe that?" Summer whispered to Taiyang.

"It was a rough few years after you left, babe." Tai kissed her on the forehead.

" **I suggest you try it again, Ruby." Tai said, standing and pickup a helmet hanging on the wall. "Only this time, let go your conscious self, and act on instinct." He put the helmet on the girl's head and put down a visor in front of her face.**

" **Well, with the blast shield down, I can't even see! How am I supposed to fight?" she whined.**

" **Your eyes can deceive you. Don't trust them." Ruby shook her head, but followed instructions and reignited her blade. She could still hear the orb hissing as air jets allowed it to change positions. She tried to follow that, but still received a blast to her forearm. "Stretch out with your feelings." Tai urged. A little annoyed, she tried and managed to block a blast to her chest and two more to her legs in quick succession. "You see? You can do it." Tai said happily.**

"Huh, cool." Ruby chuckled.

"The White Fang did similar training for infiltration operatives." Ilia commented, ignoring Adam's glaring and growling, "We were taught to fight in total darkness, and some of the elders knew how to combat situations where several of our senses were compromised."

"Impressive." Winter complimented despite herself. "Though, how is it we never encountered them?"

Ilia turned to face her with a grin. "How do you know you didn't?

" **I call it luck." Yang said, unconvinced.**

" **In my experience, there's no such thing as luck." Tai responded.**

" **Look, good against remotes is one thing. Good against the living? It's a whole 'nother beast." A beeping sounded next to her. "C'mon Blake, we're coming up on Atlas."**

" **You know, I did feel something." Ruby told Taiyang as Yang and Blake left for the bridge. "I could almost see the remote."**

" **That's good. You've taken your first step into a larger world." Tai said with a smile.**

 **Sienna was in her office with Vader, working through some military dispatches and a message to the Empress in regard to the status of the Death Star when a military officer entered.**

" **Yes?" she asked, not looking up from her work.**

" **Our scout ships have reached Dantooine." He reported. This caught her attention. "They found the remains of a rebel base, but they estimate it has been abandoned for some time. They are now conducting a thorough search of the surrounding systems." His report finished, he saluted her, turned around on his heel and left.**

"Ha! I knew Weiss Cream wouldn't give up that easy!" Yang cheered.

"Loyalty is one of my best qualities." Weiss preened, "And after all that I've been through, I know exactly where my loyalties lie."

"Behold! Nice Weiss shows herself once more!" Ruby teased earning her a flick to the nose from Weiss.

" **She lied." Sienna growled. "She lied to us!"**

" **I told you she would never consciously betray the Rebellion's location." Vader said, trying not to sound smug.**

" **Terminate her! Immediately!" Sienna ordered lividly.**

 **The** _ **Falcon**_ **screamed through hyperspace, shown as a swirling tunnel of blue and white.**

" **Alright Blake, cutting to sub-light engines… now." She flipped a series of switches all at once . immediately, the** _ **Falcon**_ **dropped out of hyperspace into a hail of asteroids. The ship shook with all the impacts, large or small. "What the?"**

" **The hell is this?" Blake said.**

" **Must've come out in the middle of a meteor shower or some kind of asteroid collision. Check the maps!"**

" **Triple checking."**

" **What's going?" Ruby asked as she and Taiyang came to the bridge.**

" **Our coordinates are correct, but no Atlas." Yang said.**

"Perfect summation." Yang said proudly.

"Simplistically accurate." Blake groaned.

" **What do you mean? Where is it?"**

" **That's what I wanna know! All I do know is that it ain't there. Totally blown away."**

" **Stellar position is correct, but this asteroid field isn't on any of the charts." Blake said.**

" **Well then, how?" Ruby said.**

" **Destroyed, by the Empire." Taiyang supplied.**

" **The entire fleet couldn't destroy the whole planet." Yang said matter-of-factly, "It'd take a thousand starships with more firepower than I've- " a loud beeping stopped her. "There's another ship coming in on our six."**

" **Maybe they know what happened." Ruby said hopefully.**

" **It's an Imperial fighter." Tai said, as Yang flipped a few switches.**

 **A TIE-fighter flew past them. "It followed us!" said Ruby.**

" **No, it's a short-range fighter." Tai said.**

" **There aren't any bases around here. Where'd it come from?" Yang said.**

"Oh. OH!" Nora held the sides of her head. "They are so _screwed_!"

"Ya think, Pinky?" Roman said, trying to shut her up.

" **It sure is leaving in a big hurry. If they identify us, we're in big trouble." Ruby said.**

" **Not if I can help it. Blake!" Yang ordered.**

" **Jamming their comms now." She said.**

"I love how good of a team we make, even in another reality." Yang said, hugging her partner with one arm.

" **Probably best to let it go." Tai said diplomatically, "It's too far out of range."**

" **Not for long." Yang said as she increased the ship's speed.**

 **Taiyang frowned. Something about all this didn't feel right. "Fighter that size couldn't get this deep into space on its own." He said.**

" **Must've gotten lost." Ruby guessed, "Been part of a convoy or something."**

" **Well, he won't be around long enough to tell anyone about us." Yang assured them as they continued to chase it through the void.**

" **Look! He's headed for that small moon!" Ruby said.**

" **Think I can get him before he reaches it." Yang said.**

" **That's no moon." Tai said, his eyes widening, "It's a space station."**

" **It's too big to be a space station." Yang argued.**

 **As they got closer, they saw that it's surface was too unnatural, too mathematical.**

" **I've got a very bad feeling about this." Ruby said.**

" **Turn the ship around." Tai almost ordered.**

" **You know, I think you've got the right idea." Yang said, "Full reverse! Blake, lock in the auxiliary power!"**

" **Gladly." Blake said, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end and her ears pressed flat against her head.**

" **Blake, lock in the auxiliary power!" she repeated when they didn't turn.**

" **I did, it's not enough." Blake responded through gritted teeth.**

" **Why are we still moving towards it?" Ruby yelled.**

" **Nothing we can do, we're caught in a tractor beam! It's pulling us in!" Yang yelled back.**

" **There's gotta be something you can do!"**

" **There's nothing for it. I gotta shut down, but they won't get me without a fight."**

" **You can't win, but there are alternatives to fighting." Tai counselled.**

* * *

 **I hope you guys liked that. I must have gone through it half a dozen times to make sure all the dialogue I wanted was there, plus I wound up breaking it up a few times so that it stayed between 2.5k and 3k words. I'm so glad that I'm ahead on these, cuz it'll give me that much more time to play when WoW: Classic launches next week! Salvation, thy name is Vanilla WoW!**

 **And now, a few announcements!**

 **First off, I can now confirm that this movie reaction will be finished by part 9. Currently working on the finale now, and it has me so fucking worried. I feel like if I don't give this scene the proper justice it deserves that I will get fucking crucified. Of course, the same could be said about this whole movie.  
**

 **Secondly, and tying into the first, this means I have to start planning what I'll do next. I have it narrowed down to two options and since I can't decide which to do, I figured I'd let you guys decide via reviews. However, I want to keep the choices secret, so I will tell you guys the genre and planned pairings.**

 **Option 1: Medieval comedy featuring Dragonslayer**

 **Option 2: Animated Adventure featuring Arkos**

 **Please be sure to tell me in the reviews, though please note that only votes cast in THIS CHAPTER's reviews will count. The results will be revealed at the end of the Star Wars finale and will premier after my two week break.**


	41. Chapter 41- Star Wars, Part 7

**So, a few of you guys notified me that part five was missing a certain scene, which has since been rectified. I know for a fact that I wrote it, but somehow it must have gotten lost when I was doing some editing for the final few chapters.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 41

 **As the tractor beam pulled the ship into one of the docking bays, the group of four took in just how massive the Death Star was. Once the ship had landed, squads of stormtroopers surrounded the entrance ramp.**

" **Yes?" Sienna said into an intercom on her desk.**

" **We captured a freighter entering the remains of the Atlas system. It's markings match that of a ship that blasted its way out of Mos Eisley."**

" **They must be trying to return the stolen plans to the princess." Vader said. "She may yet be of use to us."**

"That doesn't make any sense." Jaune said. "Why would they try to return the plans to Weiss, even though they know she got captured?"

"You're assuming they know about that." Weiss pointed out.

"It's a logical assumption." Jaune countered, "Your message said that your ship had come under attack, and considering the plans you gave them are Imperial, it stands to reason that you had been taken prisoner by the Empire. Which brings us back to the original question."

"It's probably just paranoia." Blake said, "It's often easier on the mind to assume the worst and take necessary preparations. Better to have more and not need it than to need more and not have it."

 **A few minutes later, Vader entered the hangar where the** _ **Falcon**_ **was being held as a team of soldiers came down the entrance ramp.**

" **There's no one on board, ma'am." An officer reported, "According to the log, the crew abandoned ship right after take-off. It must be a decoy, ma'am, several of the escape pods have been jettisoned."**

" **Did you find any droids?" Vader asked. She seemed more focused on something else.**

" **No, ma'am. If there were any onboard, they also must have jettisoned."**

" **Get a scanning crew aboard. I want every part of this ship checked." She ordered. As the officer went to comply, and another squad performed a secondary sweep, she looked about again. "I sense something, something I've not felt since…" Without another word, she walked away in a hurry.**

"She's on~to us~" Yang said nervously.

 **Inside the** _ **Falcon**_ **the second sweep was finished. The whole ship was empty, not a soul or droid to be seen. As the last stormtroopers walked down the ramp, a pair of panels off to the side of the entrance came out of the floor. Under one, hid Ruby and Yang, the latter of whom had her blaster at the ready. Under the other, came Taiyang.**

" **Man, it's lucky you had these compartments." Ruby sighed in relief.**

" **I use 'em for smuggling." Yang explained, "Never thought I'd be smuggling myself in 'em." She turned to Taiyang as he rose from his compartment, "This is ridiculous. Even if I could take off, I'd never get past the tractor beam."**

"Ingenious." Winter growled, eyes narrowing. She should broach this topic with General Ironwood to improve anti-smuggling procedures.

" **Leave that to me." Tai said as he hefted himself up from the compartment.**

" **Crazy fool, I** _ **knew**_ **you were gonna say that."**

" **Who's the more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him?" Tai countered.**

"What does it matter?" Emerald said, "Either way, you're still an idiot."

" **Can we hurry this up?" Blake said, poking her head up from Yang and Ruby's compartment, "It's not exactly roomy down here."**

 **Outside, the scanning crew, a pair of female engineers, arrived.**

" **The ship's clear. If the scanners pick up anything, report it immediately." One of the troopers told them. The engineer gave a perfunctory nod before helping her partner carry the equipment on board while all but the two troopers standing guard at the entrance left. Barely two seconds after the engineers got on board, a large crashing sound came from inside the** _ **Falcon**_ **. The guards looked at each other, but thought nothing of it until a female voice came from inside.**

" **Hey, down there! You guys mind giving us a hand here?" It said. One of the guards motioned for his buddy to come help him and the pair went up the ramp. Soon after, a series of blaster shots were heard, followed by more crashing.**

 **In a control room overlooking the hangar, an officer tried to call the guards.**

" **TK-421, why aren't you at your post?" No answer. "TK-421, do you copy?" Still no answer. He went to the observation window and saw one of the guards coming out of the ship. They looked at him and pointed toward their helmet. He gave a small salute, before walking away. "We got a bad transmitter. I'll see what I can do." He said. When the door opened, he saw a trooper standing next to Blake.**

" **Boo!" Blake said before she and the trooper opened fire, taking out the skeleton crew in the observation room. With the room clear, Tai, the droids and one more trooper filed in. Once the last trooper shut the door behind them, they tore their helmet off, revealing it to be Ruby.**

"That was stupidly fortunate." Jaune groaned.

"What do you mean? That was brilliant!" Nora argued.

"Just because something is brilliant in theory doesn't mean it will automatically work in practice Nora. Like, what if those two troopers had been two really fat dudes? Ruby, what size are you?"

"Jaune…" Pyrrha hissed.

"Youth extra-large." Ruby said proudly.

"Ya see? A whole plan ruined due to a difference in clothing sizes. Also, really, Ruby? Youth extra-large?"

"It's very slimming. Plus it's the best way for me to make my boobs look bigger than my cup size suggests." She defended.

"Huh, noted."

" **You know, with all your blasting, I'm surprised the whole station doesn't know where we are!" she said angrily.**

 **The other trooper, now revealed to be Yang, took off her own helmet. "Well bring 'em on! I prefer a straight fight to all this sneaking around anyway!"**

" **We found the computer outlet, ma'am." Ren reported.**

" **Plug in." Tai said, "It should give you access to the entire Imperial network."**

 **A long rod came out of the side of Penny and it plugged into an outlet in the side of the computer. She whistled as she worked, while Ren interpreted.**

" **She says that she's found the main controls to the beam that is holding the ship here. She'll try and bring a precise map up on the monitor." A series of technical images appeared on the monitor, each with a red dot somewhere on it. "The tractor beam is couple to the main reactor in seven locations. A power loss at a single terminal will allow the ship to leave."**

'That seems like a major security flaw.' Winter mused, 'Multiple connections should decrease the potential for system power failures via redundancy, but the opposite is true. Why would the designers do something like that?'

 **Taiyang bit his lip before speaking. "I don't think either of you can help me. It's best if I go alone."**

" **Whatever you say, Old Man." Yang said, "Gotten more than I bargained for on this trip already."**

" **Let me come with you." Ruby pleaded.**

" **Be patient, Ruby. Stay and watch over the droids." He counseled. When she tried to argue, he cut her off "They must be delivered safely, or other star systems will suffer the same fate as Atlas. Your destiny lies along a different path from mine." He opened the door, checking it was clear and looked Ruby square in the eyes. "The Force will be with you. Always."**

" **Well, if that isn't cryptic, I don't know what is." Blake drawled.**

" **You said it Blakey." Yang said, leaning against her first mate's shoulder, "Where did you dig up that old fossil?"**

" **Ben is a great man." Ruby said with a frown.**

" **Yeah, great at getting us in trouble."**

" **I didn't hear you give any ideas."**

" **Literally anything is better than waiting around for them to pick us up."**

"She has a point." Blake commented, "It's true that the Imperials don't know they've been infiltrated yet, but it's only a matter of time. Staying put is a liability."

" **You think- " Ruby was interrupted by excited whistling from Penny who was still plugged into the network. "What is it?"**

" **Honestly, ma'am, I have no idea." Ren translated, "All she says is 'I've found her' and keeps repeating 'she's here'."**

" **Who?"**

" **Princess Weiss."**

" **The princess? She's here?"**

" **Princess?" Yang asked, looking to Blake, who just shrugged.**

" **Where is she?" Ruby asked Penny.**

" **Level 5, detention block RT-13." Ren translated. Penny whistled a bit more. "I'm afraid she's scheduled to be terminated."**

" **What? No!" she looked to Yang, "We gotta do something!"**

" **What are you talking about?" she asked back.**

" **The droids belong to her. She's the one in the message, we gotta help her!" Ruby pleaded.**

" **Look, kid, don't get any funny ideas. The old man wants us to wait right here." Yang said firmly.**

" **He didn't know she was here! Find us a way to get there." she told Ren.**

" **I'm not going anywhere." Yang said, taking a seat and kicking her feet up.**

"Now what's your assessment Blake?" Weiss asked.

"Yang is still right." Blake said.

"What? I thought you said that staying put wasn't a good idea."

"I did, but I see where this is going. Staying put is a bad idea, but walking straight into a prison is like asking to be put in chains."

" **They're gonna execute her! And aren't you the one who was arguing against staying put and getting captured? Now all you want to do is stay?"**

" **Waltzing into the detention area is what I had in mind!"**

" **But they're gonna kill her!"**

" **Better her than me!"**

"But that's going a bit too far." Blake clarified.

 **Ruby looked like she was about to give up and go herself, before an idea came to mind. If Yang's morals wouldn't be swayed, maybe she just needed to use a different approach. A small smile graced her lips and she walked up behind Yang. "She's rich." She almost whispered into Yang's ears. Blake facepalmed as Yang was so easily drawn in.**

"That is devious Little Red." Roman commented. "I like it."

"They grow up so fast." Neo signed, anime tears running down her cheeks.

"This is nothing." Yang said, holding her sister at bay with her metal arm. "You should have seen how she had us wrapped around her little finger as a kid. Talk about spoiled."

"You're dead meat, Yang!" Ruby struggled in vain to get at her sister.

 **A few minutes later, Ruby and Yang, dressed in full stormtrooper gear, walked down the halls of the Death Star, escorted a now handcuffed Blake. Their disguises seemed to work, so long as they kept quiet, allowing them to bypass almost all security without notice. Only Blake drew any attention, with most officers scowling at her, not even paying attention to her ears and merely considering her another prisoner.**

 **They managed to reach an elevator without any trouble, but then Ruby's awkwardness kicked in. she couldn't stay still for long and began bouncing in place anxiously. She sighed in relief when the elevator arrived.**

" **I can't see a thing in this helmet." She complained to Yang.**

" **At least your chest piece seems to fit. These clearly weren't designed with a DD-cup in mind." Yang complained back with a grunt.**

 **Meanwhile, Taiyang was silently following a squad of stormtroopers down a hallway, keeping a safe distance from them. Vader was also patrolling the halls, searching for whatever it was she had sensed earlier.**

 **In the elevator, Ruby was undoing the handcuff on one of Blake's wrists in preparation for the next step of their plan.**

"Do we even know what their plan is?" Weiss asked.

"Well, the first part is fairly simple: they're posing as soldiers escorting Blake to the prison block. After that, they need to somehow gain access to the prisoner records to find out where you are, free you and get the hell out." Jaune explained.

"No way it'll be that easy. The prison is bound to have guards in it." Blake commented.

"Which means they either have to do it very stealthily, or they'll have to gain control by force. Considering that Ruby is undoing your cuffs, I'm leaning towards the latter."

" **This is not gonna work." Yang said.**

" **Why didn't you say so before?" Ruby asked, annoyed.**

" **I** _ **did**_ **say so before."**

 **The elevator door opened behind them and the two fake stormtroopers led their prisoner into the detention block, which was full of guards. They were stopped by an officer.**

"Option B it is then." Jaune mumbled.

" **Where are you taking this, thing?" he asked condescendingly.**

" **Prisoner transfer from cellblock 113-A." Ruby said.**

 **The officer's eyes narrowed. "I wasn't informed. I'll have to clear it." He motioned for a pair of guards to take custody of Blake. Blaster pistols drawn, they approached her without thinking twice.**

 **With a roar, Blake grabbed the nearest guard by the throat and threw him against a wall.**

" **Look out! She's loose!" Yang yelled, and the shooting commenced. Ruby fired in Blake's direction, but missed and took out a security camera. Slowly, the trio picked apart the guards and destroyed the security system. Cameras and control panels exploded all around, and bodies fell where they stood. Once they had finished, Yang and Ruby went to the main console.**

"Seem a little too easy to you?" Jaune asked Blake.

"Just a bit." She drawled.

" **We gotta find out which cell this princess of yours is in." Yang said, looking at the list. She didn't know the chick's name, so she decided to look for the one with the highest security priority. It didn't take long. "Here, cell 2187. Go get her. I'll stall them." As Ruby moved off down the cell block, Yang took off her helmet, shook out her hair, and answered an alarm that was beeping. "Uh, everything's under control, situation normal."**

" **What happened?" a voice on the other end asked.**

" **Uh, we had a slight weapons malfunction, but everything's perfectly alright. We're fine. We're all fine. Here. Now. Thank you. How are you?" she physically winced at how weak that sounded.**

" **We're sending a squad up." The other guy said.**

" **Uh, uh, negative! Negative! We have a, uh, a reactor leak here now. Uh, give us a few minutes to lock it down. Uh, large leak, very dangerous."**

" **Who is this? What's your operating number?"**

"Wow, sis, never thought I'd see you as the socially awkward one." Ruby giggled.

"Can it, munchkin." Yang grumbled. Seriously, _Ruby_ could have done better at stalling than the other her.

" **Ah." Yang thought fast and did what she always did. Brute forced her way out. She grabbed her blaster and shot the control panel. "Lousy conversation anyway. Ruby! Hurry it up, we got company!"**

 **Thankfully, Ruby was practically outside the target cell. She quickly opened the door and stepped in to find a sleeping Weiss stretched out in front of her. She stirred and sat up on one elbow.**

" **Aren't you a little short to be a stormtrooper?" she asked snidely.**

" **Huh?" It took Ruby's brain a while to catch up to reality, it had been too busy drinking in Weiss' beauty. She looked good in the holo, but seeing her first-hand put it all to shame. "Oh, right, yeah, the uniform." She took off her helmet. "My name is Ruby Rose, I'm here to rescue you."**

" **You're who?" Weiss sat up, confused.**

" **I'm here to rescue you. I've got your P3 unit, I'm here with Ben Long!"**

 **That got her attention. "Ben Long? You mean Taiyang Xiao Long?! Where is he?"**

" **No time, come on!" Weiss took her hand and led her into the hallway.**

"Man, I will never get used to being referred to by that name." Taiyang complained.

"It doesn't really suit you, does it?" Summer agreed.

"You must have done something pretty bad to have to change your name like that." Qrow commented.

 **In another part of the ship, Vader was conferring with Sienna.**

" **He is here." She said, completely sure of herself.**

" **Taiyang Xaio Long? How can you be sure?" Sienna said with a frown.**

" **A tremor in the Force." She explained, "The last time I felt it, was in the presence of my old master."**

" **But surely, he must be dead by now."**

" **Don't underestimate the Force." Vader warned.**

" **The Jedi are extinct. Their fire has gone out in the universe." A loud ding alerted Sienna to an awaiting transmission, "You, my friend are all that is left of their religion. Yes?"**

" **We have an emergency situation in cellblock RT-13." The voice from earlier reported.**

" **The princess? Put all sections on alert!"**

" **Taiyang** _ **is**_ **here. The Force is with him." Vader said.**

" **If you're right, he must not be allowed to escape."**

" **Escape is not his plan." Vader knew. "I must face him, alone."**

"My lien is on dad." Ruby said with a grin.

"Same." Yang agreed.

"I have to agree. Mr. Xiao Long may be old in this," Blake said, preempting Tai's tirade, "But the whole master-student duel trope is fairly consistent. The two will fight, but Mr. Xiao Long will win due to his experience and personal tricks."

 **In the cellblock, Blake heard the descending elevator before Yang did.**

" **Yang! Violence imminent!" she yelled as she took up a defensive position next to Yang.**

" **Get behind me!" Yang yelled before shooting the door as soon as the elevator arrived.**

 **The door exploded outwards, leaving a gaping hole the Stormtroopers were forced to crawl through. The first trooper fell the second he stepped into the hole, creating another obstacle for his comrades. They streamed through the breach, laying down a barrage that forced Blake and Yang to flee into the hallway.**

" **Can't get out that way." Yang said as she and Blake met up with Ruby and Weiss.**

" **Looks like you managed to cut off our only escape route." Weiss said.**

" **Maybe you'd like it better back in your cell, your highness?" Yang said snidely. Weiss' retort was cut short by a blaster bolt impacting near her head. The group took cover on either side of the corridor, with Blake and Yang laying down suppressing fire while Ruby took out a communicator and shielded Weiss as best she could.**

" **Ren! Ren, come in! Are there any other ways out of the cell bay? We've been cut off!" she yelled.**

" **All systems have been alerted to your presence, ma'am." Ren said, "The main entrance seems to be the only way in or out. All other information on your level is restricted." A knocking on the door made him turn the communicator off on reflex.**

"Methinks we be boned." Weiss said, trying to exercise the vocabulary she had gained at Beacon. She looked at Yang to see if she had done it right, and smiled when she got a thumbs up from the blonde.

" **There isn't any other way out!" Ruby yelled across to Yang.**

" **Well, now what? We can't hold 'em off forever!" Yang replied.**

" **This is some rescue!" Weiss yelled sarcastically, "You came down here without a plan to get out?"**

" **She's the brains, sweetheart!" Yang yelled, pointing at Ruby. Rolling her eyes, Weiss took the blaster from Ruby's hands and blasted a grate between Yang and Blake. "What the hell are you doing?!"**

" **Somebody has to save our skins! Into the garbage chute flygirl!" Weiss said as she moved across the hallway and dived down the hole she had made after tossing Ruby her blaster. Blake made to follow her, but stopped with one foot in.**

" **Get in there!" Yang yelled.**

" **No way! Something down there doesn't smell right!" Blake yelled.**

" **Get in there, ya cat-eared crybaby! I don't care what ya smell!" she kicked Blake in the ass with her heel and ignored the obscenities her friend yelled at her on the way down. "Wonderful girl!" Yang yelled to Ruby, "Before I wanted to kill her. Now I'm beginning to like her! Get in!" Ruby dived in, followed by Yang a few seconds later.**

"I rather like this version of you, sister." Winter commented, "Despite being royalty, you seem to have quite the fighter's spirit."

"Heh, you should have seen her a few days ago." Ruby bragged. "Your sister just about impaled that Hazel guy with her Queen Lancer summon."

"I personally like to call that one Queen Bee." Weiss preened.

* * *

 **Before you ask, yes, I do have names for all of Weiss's summons and will continue to do so as long as she gains more.**

 **So, WoW Classic is fucking amazing- once you are able to get in- and I love it! If you want, you can find me in the game on the Atiesh server under the names Stormfury and Oldwolflogan on the Horde side.**

 **Also, the poll for the next movie is now closed. I won't tell you who the winner is- you'll have to wait until after my two week break for that- but I will tell you that it was incredibly close. Literally one vote decided everything, and it wasn't mine, though I was prepared to flip a coin to make the decision.**

 **Remember to Follow, Favorite, and Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 9/3/19**


	42. Chapter 42- Star Wars, Part 8

**Hoo boy. Almost done, just two chapters left, this one included.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 42

 **The garbage pile they landed in didn't seem as bad as one might imagine. There was about eight inches of liquid on the floor, but the majority of the refuse was metal and plastic. On the other hand…**

" **The garbage chute was a great idea." Yang said with all the sarcasm, "What an amazing smell you've discovered!"**

" **I told you!" Blake yelled, taking a break from her pounding on the door.**

"I don't even want to imagine what that smells like." Weiss said with disgust.

"Imagine how bad it must be for me." Blake said. "Heightened senses, remember?"

"Oh, good Gods, you're right!"

" **Let's get out of here." Yang muttered, aiming at the door. Ruby tried to stop her but was too late. The bolt bounced off the door and the walls several times. Everybody took cover until they heard it explode when it made contact with a piece of refuse on the opposite side of the compactor.**

" **Will you forget it?! I already tried, it's magnetically sealed!" Ruby yelled.**

" **Put that thing away! You're gonna get us all killed!" Weiss added at the same volume.**

" **Absolutely, your worship." Yang said, her eyes turning red to match her anger, "Look, I had everything under control until you led us down here. You know, it's not gonna take long for them to figure out what happened to us."**

" **Well, it could be worse." Weiss snapped back. On cue, a loud roaring echoed through the compactor.**

" **It's worse." Yang said.**

"This me needs to shut her Gods-damned mouth." Weiss moaned.

" **There's something alive in here." Ruby whined, sensing it.**

" **That's your imagination."**

 **Ruby jumped as she felt something brush past her leg. Looking down, she saw some kind of tentacle descend into the water. Ruby pointed it out, but nobody saw anything. Blake was the only one who believed Ruby. She hadn't seen it either, but her instincts were practically screaming at her that something else was in there with them. And she wanted out. Badly.**

 **Before she knew what happened, a tentacle wrapped around Ruby's leg and dragged her down into the muck.**

" **Ruby!" Yang yelled. She searched around where Ruby went down, but found nothing. Ruby resurfaced a few feet from them, the tentacle now wrapped around her torso. She gasped for air and struggled to stay above the liquid awful, grabbing onto Yang's outstretched arm.**

" **Quick, shoot it!" she gurgled out.**

" **Where?" Yang asked desperately.**

" **Anywhere!" she yelled. Yang fired a few times into the muck, earning another roar before Ruby was dragged back under. About a minute later, a metallic clanging was heard and she finally came back up, coughing and gasping for air.**

" **What happened?" Weiss asked.**

" **I don't know." Ruby hacked. She had unfortunately got some of the liquid in her system and it took all she had to not vomit, "It just let go of me and disappeared."**

"What the hell even was that?" Jaune said.

"A good reason why garbage disposals are not a viable method of escape." Adam said. "What?" he asked when he noticed everyone staring at him.

"Did, you just make a joke?" Mercury said, wide-eyed.

"Yes?…"

"I'm proud of you, man."

"Fuck you."

 **There was a loud groaning. "I got a bad feeling about this." Yang said. she was proven correct when the walls began to close in on them.**

" **The walls are closing in!" Ruby said.**

"Captain Obvious." _WBY said with a mock salute.

" **Don't just stand there, try and brace it with something!" Weiss said, lifting up a long metal pipe. Yang took it from her and easily lifted it over her head, holding it in place to brace against the walls. Ruby suddenly remembered her communicator.**

" **Ren! Ren! Come in, Ren!" she yelled into it.**

 **Her cries went underheard however. Ren had left the communicator on the control console and was nowhere to be seen when the door to the control room was forcefully unlocked and stormtroopers swarmed in. They began checking the bodies and heard a metallic tapping behind them. The opened one of the doors to find Ren and Penny behind it.**

" **They're madmen!" Ren cried, "They're headed for the prison level! If you hurry you might catch them!" His half-truth worked and the squad left a single man to stand guard. He took the communicator and deactivated it, motioning to Penny to follow him. When he noticed the guard, he halted. With a glance at Penny, a plan came to mind, though it went against most of his programming.**

" **All this excitement seems to have overrun the circuits in my counterpart here." He lied through his teeth (grill that constitutes a mouth?) "If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to take her down to maintenance."**

" **Sure." The trooper said, allowing them to pass.**

"Clever, though I'm fairly sure his programming would not have let him do so." Penny said.

"Maybe he found a loophole?" Ruby guessed.

"Programming does not necessarily work that way, Ruby." Penny explained, "I believe it more likely that he told a half-truth. It is the only logical conclusion."

 **Ruby kept trying the communicator as the walls finally met the pipe Yang was holding. She tried to hold it steady, but was unable to keep it from bending under the hydraulic pressure.**

 **Ren and Penny were back outside the hangar, looking for the others.**

" **They're not here. Something must have happened to them." Ren said, turning to Penny, "See if they've been captured." Penny plugged into a nearby terminal, whining as she checked.**

" **One thing's for sure" Yang said, accepting the reality of the situation, "We're all gonna be a whole lot thinner."**

 **Penny whistled upon finishing her search.**

" **Thank goodness they haven't been captured. But where could they be?" Penny whistled again. "The commlink? Oh, I forgot, I turned it off." He pulled it out and reactivated it. "Are you there, ma'am?"**

"Rule number 3." Ruby said.

"Never be unreachable." Weiss finished.

" **REN?!"**

" **We've had some problems- "he tried to explain before Ruby cut him off.**

" **Will you shut up and listen to me!" she yelled through gritted teeth. She was now caught between all the trash and it was starting to crush her. "Shut down all the garbage smashers on the detention level, got it?" She yelled the command several times, hoping the urgency in her voice would speed things up. It did.**

" **No, no, shut them all down! Hurry!" Ren told Penny. She worked as fast as she could to save her mistress's life.**

 **It looked like she wouldn't be fast enough when the walls suddenly halted. The group cheered, though Ren mistook the joyful cheering for screams of pain.**

" **Oh no, listen to them, P3, they're dying! Curse my metal body, I wasn't fast enough! It's all my fault!"**

" **Ren, we're alright!" Ruby told him trough the commlink. "We're alright! You did great! Ha haaaa! Hey get us out of here, will ya? Open the pressure maintenance hatch on- where the hell are we?"**

" **326-3827!" Yang yelled as she hugged Weiss, who hugged her back.**

"Well, that was tense." Nora sighed.

"I fully stand by my previous statement." Adam said.

 **Taiyang continued along the corridor, keeping his lightsaber handy in case he needed it. he turned a corner onto a catwalk over a deep pit with a generator attached off the side. Carefully, hugging the side of the generator, he crept to the far side where he began the work of deactivating the tractor beam.**

"That seems like a really dumb design for that." Jaune commented, "What if the technician working on it fell off?"

"There are special restraints to prevent such things." Winter said, "I will admit it is a less than intelligent design choice, but it does serve a certain dramatic purpose."

 **Outside the trash compactor, Yang and Ruby had shed their stormtrooper disguises, keeping the belts and the weapons while Weiss did her hair back up into it's usual side ponytail.**

" **Well, if we can just avoid any more royal decision-making, we ought to make good time getting the hell outta here." Yang said, with a pointed look at Weiss, who scowl-smiled back.**

" **Let's do it, then." Ruby said, ruffling her hair to get it the way she liked it. A loud noise came from the garbage masher.**

" **NOPE! Nope! Can we get the fuck out of here now?" Blake yelled in fright.**

" **Where're you going?" Yang said. When Blake refused to even speak, she scoffed and shot the trash. "Come 'ere ya big coward." Blake shook her head. "Blake, get over here!"**

"Am I being relegated to the role of comic relief?" Blake said with an edge.

"Good comic relief." Yang said, wrapping her arm around her partner's shoulder, "Gotta look at the positives here."

" **Listen," Weiss hissed, "I don't know who you are or where you came from, but from now on, you do as I tell you. 'Kay?" She walked off, leaving Yang with her mouth hanging open to catch up.**

" **Listen your worshipfulness," Yang said once she had found her voice, "Let's get something straight, I take orders from exactly one person: me."**

" **It's a wonder you're still alive." Weiss said sarcastically.**

" **No amount of reward is worth this." Yang complained out loud.**

"Ooh, catty."

 **As Taiyang was working on the tractor beam generator, a squad of troopers entered the same room. Hearing them coming, he quickly adjusted a dial to make it appear as though the generator was still operating correctly.**

" **Give me regular reports." The leader told the two men he set to stand guard.**

 **As the guards made small talk, Taiyang finished his work and walked around to the side opposite from the troopers. Using the Force, he made the troopers think they heard something behind them. When they turned to inspect, he quietly made a break for the exit.**

 **Making their way to an observation window overlooking the hangar, Yang was relieved to see the** _ **Falcon**_ **still in once piece.**

" **There she is." She sighed, not knowing she had been holding her breath.**

" **Ren, you there?" Ruby said into the commlink.**

" **Yes, ma'am." Ren replied.**

" **Are you two safe?"**

" **For the moment. We're in the main hangar across from the ship."**

" **Got it. We're right above you, sit tight."**

" **You came in that thing?" Weiss said, getting Yang's attention, "You're braver than I thought."**

" **Nice." Yang said, taking it as a compliment, "Come on."**

 **The quietly made their way through the halls, Yang leading the way with her blaster at the ready. The turned a corner and were met with a squad of stormtroopers.**

" **There they are! Blast 'em!" one of them yelled before Yang shot him dead. The rest of the squad retreated down the hall, Yang hot on their heels.**

" **Get back to the ship!" She yelled.**

" **Where are you going?" Ruby yelled after her.**

" **For Menagerie!" Blake cried, running after Yang with a heavy blaster rifle.**

" **She certainly has courage." Weiss was forced to admit.**

" **What good's it do her if it gets her killed?" Ruby sighed, as she led Weiss the other way.**

"So, Menagerie is still a thing here." Blake said.

"Hope it's better than a small continent that is two-thirds inhospitable." Adam growled.

" _I can assure you all that is most certainly is."_

 **Yang yelled as she charged after the stormtroopers, Blake hot on her heels. These battle-cries soon turned into shouts of terror as she rounded a corner into a docking bay filled with the bastards. Blake soon caught up to her to see her running back around the corner, barely dodging a hail of blaster fire.**

" **Run, Blake! RUN!"**

 **Ruby and Weiss were facing similar problems. Ruby laid down suppressing fire as she followed Weiss down the hallway. They eventually ran into a ravine within the battle station, Ruby almost falling off the edge.**

" **I think we took a wrong turn." Ruby said as the troopers caught up with them. Weiss closed the door behind them, but there wasn't a lock. Ruby blasted the control panel, thus locking the door and solving one problem. But she had also created another.**

" **Well, that oughtta hold them a while." Ruby said.**

" **Now we just need to get across this. Find the controls that extend the bridge." Weiss said.**

 **In searching for said controls, Ruby's stomach dropped. "I think I just blasted it." She looked around for another option and noticed some structures with metal beams attached. Maybe…**

 **Before she could finish her thought, a blaster bolt impacted near her foot. Another group of troopers on a ledge above them across the ravine had started firing on them. Weiss took cover as Ruby took pot shots at them. She managed to hit one, who let out the infamous Wilhelm Scream as he fell from the ledge.**

"Oh, I love that sound effect!" Sun said.

"Me too," Ilia grinned, "Damn near impossible to replicate though."

" **Here," Ruby said, handing Weiss the blaster, "Cover me." As Weiss began firing- with far more success than Ruby, it should be noted- Ruby began pulling out a length of wire from her utility belt. She had pulled out about fifteen feet of wire attached to a hook when the door behind them opened slightly. She tossed the hook and managed to loop it about one of the metal bars above them. Weiss wrapped her arms about Ruby and gave her a peck on the cheek.**

" **For luck." She explained. Ruby took the win and swung across. Thankfully, the wire held and they made it across. Ruby unhooked the wire from her belt and they made it into the next hallway by the time the door finally lifted.**

"Aw, Weiss, I knew you cared." Ruby said, capturing her partner in a massive bear hug.

"Unhand me, you insufferable red dolt!" Weiss said, barely fighting Ruby's grasp and smiling a bit. She had miss this somewhat.

 **Yang and Blake were still running from the troopers when the door in front of them started to close. Thinking fast, Yang shot the control panel. She and Blake triple-timed it and made it through just before the doors closed, leaving the troopers on the other side to impotently order the doors open.**

 **Taiyang was walking down another hallway outside the hangar, when he ran into Vader, standing tall and saber burning a deep red. She casually approached Taiyang, who activated his own blue blade.**

"Oh yeah, laser sword fight." Sun grinned.

"How is hers a different color than Dad's?" Yang asked.

"There must be some component within the handle itself that determines the coloring." Ruby theorized.

"It could also be a spiritual thing." Ren suggested, "Like how our Semblances are representative of our character."

" **I have been waiting for you, Tai." Vader said confidently. "We meet again at last." Taiyang took a defensive stance, while Vader took a more aggressive stance, their sabers crossing in the middle of the blades. "The circle is complete. When I left you, I was but a learner. Now, I am the master."**

" **Only a master of evil, Darth." Tai replied, making the first move, a high strike. Vader blocked and reposted low then high, locking blades in front of them. She broke the lock and thrusted a couple times, forcing her older opponent to spin on the spot a block a few more attacks at his midsection.**

 **Tai went for a low-high combo before swapping places with Vader. He moved his blade before him, hoping to confuse Vader.**

" **Your powers are weak, Old Man." Vader taunted.**

" **You can't win, Darth." Tai said with the ghost of a smile, "If you strike me down, I will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine." He feinted a strike at her arm, before switching to a driving slash at her shoulder, which Vader blocked easily, holding Tai's blade in place with almost no effort.**

" **You should not have come back." Vader warned. She knew she had all the advantages. She had a bit of height on Tai, as well as youth and raw power. Sure, Tai had a few years of experience on her, but she had been through more combat than her old master acting as the Empress's personal enforcer. Their fight continued for sometime, with Vader and Tai trading attack and defense, strikes, blocks, counterattacks and parries.**

"This seems like a pretty even fight." Tai said.

"That 'strike me down' bit does interest me a little." Qrow said, sitting up in his seat, "What do you think he meant by that?"

"I don't know."

 **Elsewhere, Yang and Blake had made it back to the hangar.**

" **Thought we just left this party." Yang grumbled, seeing all the soldiers still in the hangar. She turned at a noise behind her to see Ruby and Weiss running up. "What kept ya?"**

" **We, uh, ran into some old friends." Weiss said, a little out of breath.**

" **The ship alright?" Ruby asked, winded as well.**

" **Looks good from here." Yang said, "Just need to figure out how to get to it, preferably without dying. And assuming the Old Man got the tractor beam down."**

 **Taiyang and Vader's fight grew so loud, it drew the attention of the troops in the hangar, who ran over to watch. Seeing this, Yang's eyes widened at her supposed change of luck.**

" **What the hell?" she said with concern.**

" **Gift horse, Yang." Blake said.**

" **Good point. Go!" Yang ordered, and the four ladies quietly hurried into the hangar proper.**

 **Ren and Penny met them half-way to the ship, but then Ruby saw the fight.**

" **Ben?"**

 **Tai looked over and saw Ruby standing there, Yang and Blake leading Weiss and the droids onto the ship. He looked back at Vader and a smile began to grace his lips. He stepped back, dropping his defenses in some form of prayer. Vader took the chance and sliced through him at the chest.**

" **NO!"**

"Dad!" Ruby yelled, her sister rushing to hug her.

"Huh, so that's how that feels?" Tai said. he looked to Summer and noticed an odd expression on her face. "What's wrong, hun?"

"You smiled." She said, "Right before it happened, you smiled and then _allowed_ Vader to kill you. I don't get it."

"I wonder…" Ghira mused.

"Chief Belladonna?" Tai asked.

"Please, just call us Ghira and Kali." Ghira chuckled, "And it's nothing for now."

* * *

 **Hope all of my readers in the southeast are all safely out of the way of Hurricane Dorian.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite and Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 9/10/19**


	43. Chapter 43- Star Wars, Finale

**And here we are at the end. This, this has been a fucking journey hasn't it? This chapter is gonna seem kinda rushed, but damn it when I say double-length, I fucking mean double-length.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 43

 **The troopers watching the fight turned to see Ruby angrily opening fire at them. They returned fire, but missed wildly. Vader investigated the remains of Taiyang. He seemed to have disappeared entirely, leaving only his clothes and lightsaber.**

" **Ruby, come on!" Weiss yelled, taking cover from the firefight.**

" **Blast the door, kid!" Yang yelled, seeing Vader turning their way.**

 **Ruby did as requested and blasted the doors' control panel, closing and locking it in Vader's face. She took down a few more troopers before she heard a voice in her head. It was Taiyang.**

" **Run, Ruby, run!" he said. she complied, boarding the** _ **Falcon**_ **as it started taking off and the ramp was raised up.**

"Ha, I knew it!" Ghira said clapping his hands.

"Dad?"

"He won. Taiyang won even though Vader struck him down."

"How? He's dead." Cinder growled.

"My guess is that he has spent years, possibly decades studying the Force. During the course of it, he somehow gained a level connection with it where his spirit can persist after death. For all intents and purposes, he is immortal."

" **I hope the Old Man got that tractor beam out of commission," Yang said as she entered the cockpit, Blake already working the controls, "Otherwise, this is gonna be one helluva short trip. Hit it!" The** _ **Falcon**_ **backed out of the hangar and flew into the void.**

" **Looks like it worked." Blake said as they put as much distance between them and the Death Star as possible.**

" **So far, but we're coming up on their sentry ships." Yang frowned. The** _ **Falcon**_ **was a tough old bird, but she wasn't overly much of a fighter. Unfortunately, there was nothing for it. "Angle the deflector shields while I charge up the guns."**

" **Got it."**

 **In the lounge, Ruby was sitting at the game table, tears falling from her eyes. Weiss walked up and put a blanket over her shoulders.**

" **Can't believe he's gone." She sniffled.**

 **Yang came out into the lounge, putting on a pair of gloves. "No time to cry, kid." She said. "We aren't out of the woods yet." She started to climb up a ladder. Ruby followed, climbing down into a gun emplacement, while Leia ran to assist Blake in the cockpit.**

"Momma needs to express some rage." Ruby said so that only her friends could hear her.

 **The gun was a simple four-barrel blaster turret controlled by the gunner with a headset so the gunners could coordinate.**

" **Alright, kid, stay sharp." Yang said.**

" **Here they come." Weiss told them as a quartet of TIE fighters flew past them.**

 **The battle was hectic to say the least. One freighter versus four small ships designed for nothing but combat? It was hardly a contest. The first salvo came from the rear, but the freighter held up to the assault. Ruby and Yang fired at the smaller ships in the hopes of taking one of the bastards down, but the aiming systems on the guns were so confusing and the fighters were so fast that hitting them was mostly a crap-shoot.**

" **We lost lateral controls." Weiss said after another hard hit.**

" **Don't worry, she'll hold together." Yang assured her. Some circuits behind her overloaded. "Hear me, baby? Hold together."**

 **Yang was the first to make a kill, cheering as she watched the explosion.**

" **I got him! I got him!" Ruby yelled up when she scored a kill a few seconds later.**

" **Great, kid!" Yang yelled down, "Don't get cocky!"**

" **Down to two!" Weiss reminded them.**

 **Ruby scored the third kill about a minute later. The last fighter came straight at Yang. She fired non-stop until, finally, the lasers found the mark and destroyed the fighter in a multi-color explosion. Sliding back in her seat, Yang left out a long sigh.**

" **Yeah!"** /"Get some!" Ruby cheered, on and off screen.

" **They did it!" Weiss cheered, hugging Blake, who hugged her back.**

 **On the Death Star, Sienna stood on the bridge, watching the** _ **Falcon**_ **escape. Vader came up behind her.**

" **Are they away?" Sienna asked, hearing Vader's approach.**

" **They've just made the jump into hyperspace." She reported.**

" **And you're sure the homing beacon is secure aboard their ship? This is an awfully big risk to take, Vader. It had better work, for both our sakes."**

"Figures that they'd have a back-up plan." Weiss grumbled.

"For her many faults, Sienna was not unintelligent." Adam said, "All her plans had contingencies, she cared for her followers and mourned the fallen as though they were her own kin."

"Then why did you have to kill her?" Blake growled.

 **Yang and Weiss sat in the cockpit of the** _ **Falcon**_ **as it flew through hyperspace.**

" **Not a bad bit of rescuing, huh?" Yang said with a cocky smirk, "You know, sometimes, I amaze even myself."**

" **That doesn't sound too hard." Weiss drawled, "They let us go, it's the only way to explain such an easy escape."**

" **Easy? Ya call that back there easy?"**

" **They're tracking us."**

" **Not this ship, sister."**

 **Weiss sighed, knowing a lost cause when she saw it. "I'm just glad the information in P3 is still intact."**

" **So, what is she carrying that's so important?"**

" **The complete technical readout of that battle station. I only hope that by analyzing the data a weakness can be found. It's not over yet."**

" **It is for me, sister. Let's get something straight: I ain't in this for your revolution and I ain't in it for you. I expect to be well-paid when this is over. I'm in it for the money."**

"Talk about cold-blooded." Weiss said.

"Your telling me." Yang pouted, "I thought this me would be better than the last one."

" **Don't worry. If money is all you care about, then money is what you'll get." Weiss left in a huff, running into Ruby on the way out. "Your friend is quite the mercenary. I wonder if she actually cares about anything. Or anybody."**

" **I care!" Ruby said, trying to make her feel better. She took a seat next to Yang, "So, what do you think of her?"**

" **Trying not to, kid." Yang replied, checking the most recently updated galactic maps to make sure their destination was still there in the first place.**

" **Good." Ruby said before looking down with a little grin.**

" **Although," Yang said, looking at where Weiss had left, "She does have a lot of spirit." Ruby's eyes widened in worry. "I don't know. What do you think? A princess and a girl like me- "**

" **No." Ruby said quickly. Yang looked her in the eyes and chuckled.**

' **Alright, kid. Challenge accepted.' She thought as they entered orbit over a red planet. They by-passed the actual planet in favor of a moon on the far side, landing near one of a series of large stone structures jutting up from the canopy.**

 **Upon closer inspection, the large structures were temples of some kind, and the Rebellion had taken up residence in one. The ground floor was used as a docking bay for individual starships, all of them gunmetal grey with patches of red or yellow paint on them. Penny was turned over to a group of scientists who analyzed the data within her. Weiss and Ren were taken to the top brass to tell them the situation and what they potentially faced. Ruby was led to the military captains and given permission to take part in the impending attack. Yang and Blake went with Weiss to get their reward.**

 **A few hours later, the Death Star entered orbit over the red planet.**

" **Yes?" Sienna said into her desktop communicator.**

" **We are approaching the planet Yavin. The Rebel base is on a moon on the far side. We are preparing to orbit the planet."**

'Alright, final act time.' Blake thought to herself. 'Let's see what we're going up against.'

 **At the same time, the Rebel strike force was gathered in a briefing room.**

" **The battle station is heavily shielded and carries a firepower greater than half the Star Fleet." An older general said as a technical readout of the Death Star appeared on a screen behind him. "Its defenses are designed around a direct, large-scale assault. A small, one-man fighter should be able to penetrate the outer defense."**

" **Excuse me, sir," one of the pilots said, raising his hand, "But what use are stunt fighters going to be against that?"**

" **Well, the Empire doesn't consider a small one-man fighter to be any threat, or they'd have a tighter defense." The general explained. "An analysis of the plans provided by Princess Weiss has demonstrated a weakness in the battle station. But the approach will not be easy." The image on screen zoomed in to an outline of a small corridor and began moving down it. "You're required to maneuver straight down this trench, and skim the surface to this point. The target area is only two meters wide." This sent murmurs throughout the assembled pilots. "It's a small thermal exhaust port right below the main port. The shaft leads directly to the reactor system. A precise hit will start a chain reaction which should destroy the station. Only a precise hit will set up a chain reaction. The target shaft is ray shielded, so you'll have to use proton torpedoes."**

"This plan is even riskier than Ironwood's from Pacific Rim." Jaune said. "I mean, the thing is already a mobile army base equipped with the single most powerful weapon I've ever seen, and they're banking all their hopes on a near-suicidal bombing run?"

"And then there's the problem of getting the torpedo into a vertical target when you're coming at it from a perpendicular angle." Winter agreed.

"Maybe the torpedoes are computer guided?" Ruby guessed.

"Maybe…"

" **That's impossible, even for a computer." A white-haired, blue-eyed young man sitting next to Ruby said.**

" **No, it's not impossible." Ruby said, "I used to bulls-eye womp rats in my T-16 back home. They're not much bigger than two meters."**

" **Any questions?" the general asked. Nobody had any questions. "Then man your ships. And may the Force be with you."**

 **The Death Star had achieved orbit over Yavin, and Sienna and Vader were oberserving from the bridge.**

" **Orbiting the planet at maximum velocity." The deck officer reported. "The moon with the Rebel base will be in range in thirty minutes."**

" **This will be a day long remembered." Vader said proudly. "It has seen the end of Xiao Long, and it will soon see the end of the Rebellion."**

 **Sienna agreed, but still maintained a healthy amount of concern. She hadn't reached her current position without a generous amount of doubt to keep her grounded.**

 **A few minutes later, Ruby, now dressed in a flight suit and holding a helmet of her own, turned a corner to see Blake and Yang loading boxes of credits onto a cart.**

" **So," she said, walking up to Yang, "You got your reward and you're just gonna leave?"**

"Well, when you say it like that, I sound like a douche…" Yang said, shrinking in on herself.

" **That's right." Yang replied, brushing off Ruby's anger, "I got some old debts I gotta pay off with this stuff. Even if I didn't, you don't think I'd be fool enough to stick around here, do ya?" she put another box on the cart and turned back to Ruby, "Why don't you come with us? You're pretty handy in a fight, we could use you."**

" **Yang, look around. You know what's about to happen, what they're up against. They could use a pilot like you, but you're turning your back on them."**

" **What good's a reward if you ain't around to use it? Besides, attacking that battle station ain't my idea of heroism. It's more like, suicide."**

"Well, it's good to know that one of you goody-goodies is capable of realistic thinking." Roman nodded.

"I think the word you're looking for is heartless." Ruby argued.

Roman shrugged. "The world is a heartless place, Little Red. Thought you would have figured that out by now."

" **Yeah, well, take care of yourself, Yang. I guess that's what you're best at, right?" Ruby walked off in a huff.**

" **Ruby!" Yang called out, stopping her. "May the Force be with you." Ruby nodded and carried on.**

" **So, what now, Raven?" Blake said with a frown.**

" **Piss off." Yang said, grabbing another box. "I know what I'm doing."**

 **A few minutes, later, Ruby and Weiss met in the hangar.**

" **What's wrong?" Weiss asked.**

" **Ah, it's just Yang." Ruby said, trying to play it off, "I don't know, I guess I thought she'd change her mind."**

" **Ruby, Yang's got to follow her own path. No one else can choose it for her." Weiss said, quoting something her Uncle Klein had said.**

" **I only wish Ben were here." Ruby said sadly. Weiss smiled and kissed Ruby's forehead before heading off with the other leaders.**

 **Ruby had finally reached her ship when a familiar voice called out to her. She turned to see Cinder dressed in the same pilot outfit she was wearing, only hers was far more form-fitting and accentuated every curve she had.**

" **Cin!" Ruby said, wrapping her old friend in a massive hug that was returned in kind.**

" **I don't believe it! How are you?" she said happily. "Are you coming up with us?"**

"So, we actually are friends in this." Ruby said with a grimace to match Cinder's.

" _Is that so hard to believe, Ms. Rose? We are all victims of our own circumstances. Mr. Black was raised and trained by a single father who was also a notorious assassin. Ms. Sustrai grew up on the streets, most likely not even knowing her parents. Your own sister raised you herself after your mother died. Perhaps in this reality, Ms. Fall had a better life. Is it really so impossible to think that you two could possibly become friends?"_

" **I'll be right up there with ya, and boy do I have some stories to tell you."**

" **Rose," another pilot said, Professor Port of all people, "Are you sure you can handle this ship?"**

" **Sir, Ruby's one of the best push-pilots in the Outer Rim territories." Cinder vouched for her friend.**

" **You'll do." Port said with a smile.**

" **Thank you, sir. I'll try." Ruby said.**

" **Listen, I gotta get to my ship. But once we get back, we are gonna have one massive catch-up session. Alright?"**

" **Gotcha. Hey Cin," Cinder turned to look at her friend, "I told ya I'd make it someday."**

 **Cinder grinned, "It'll be just like old times, Rubes. They'll never stop us."**

 **As Ruby climbed a ladder to get in her ship, she saw Penny being lowered into a slot behind the cockpit.**

" **Hey, this P3 unit seems a little beat-up." One of the technicians said, "You sure you don't want a newer model?"**

" **Not on your life." Ruby replied, "That little droid and I have been through a lot together. You okay there, Penny?" Penny whistled in response.**

"Lemme guess." Ruby said, "I am combat ready?"

"You know me so well, friend Ruby." Penny replied hugging her first friend.

" **Good." Ruby grinned as she climbed in.**

" **Hold on, Penny, you've got to come back." Ren pleaded as Penny was locked into place. "You wouldn't want my life to boring, now would you?"**

 **One by one, the fighters began to lift into the air and float out of the hangar, their sub-light engines seeming like fireflies once they broke the atmosphere.**

" **Ruby, the Force will be with you." Taiyang's voice said in Ruby's head as she made her way into the void.**

 **Weiss and Ren walked into the situation room of their base and stood before a large disk. It showed the relative positions of the moon and the Death Star as they orbited Yavin, along with the effective firing range of the Death Star's primary weapon.**

" **Stand-by alert." A voice said over the intercom, "Death Star approaching. Estimated time to firing range: 15 minutes."**

 **In the void, the strike force broke into squadrons based on fighter classification, with the Y-shaped fighters in one group, and the fixed wing fighters in another.**

" **All wings report in." Port ordered as they began their approach on the Death Star. One by one they answered.**

" **Red Ten, standing-by."**

" **Red Seven, standing-by."**

" **Red Three, standing-by." Cinder said.**

" **Red Six, standing-by." A rather fat man said.**

" **Red Nine, standing-by."**

" **Red Two, standing-by." Jaune said nervously.**

" **Red Eleven, standing-by.**

" **Red Five, standing-by." Ruby said.**

"Okay, I'm officially making that my call sign moving forward." Ruby said.

" **Lock S-foils in attack position." Port ordered when everyone was accounted for. One by one, the wings of their fighters split down the middle, forming the shape of an X. "We're passing through their magnetic field." Port said as they hit a patch of turbulence. "Hold tight! Switch your deflectors to double front."**

" **Look at the size of that thing." Jaune said as the fighters moved closer.**

"That's what she said!" Mercury called out.

"Seriously?" Emerald groaned.

"If it gets a reaction out of someone, I get to call it a win."

"No more talky! It's getting good!" Nora shouted, her eyes glued to the screen and a bucket of popcorn on her lap.

" **Cut the chatter Red Two!" Port ordered. "Accelerate to attack speed. This is it, lads!"**

" **Red Leader, this is Gold Leader." Dr. Oobleck said into his radio.**

" **I copy, Gold Leader." Port replied.**

" **We're starting for the target shaft now."**

" **We're in position. Go for it, we'll try to draw their fire."**

 **The X-Wings peeled off from the Y-wings and went in closer. They were able to easily dodge the incoming turbolaser fire, darting about nimbly while the Imperial troops inside desperately tried to zero in their cumbersome guns.**

" **This is Red Five, I'm goin' in." Ruby said before angling her fighter down in a divebomb, her ships laser cannons going full auto.**

" **Ruby, pull up!" Cinder called over the radio. "Ruby, are you okay?!"**

" **I got a little cooked, but I'm good, Cin."**

" **Freaking maniac, stay close. I'm not losing you this soon after reuniting."**

" **Copy that."**

 **Within the Death Star, troops were running all over the place. A military officer quickly found Darth Vader to relay the situation to her.**

" **My Lady," he said with a bow, "We count thirty Rebel ships out there, but they're so small they're avoiding our turbolasers."**

" **We'll have to destroy them ship-to-ship. Get the crews to their fighters." Vader ordered.**

 **Outside, the battle was heating up for Red Squadron.**

" **Watch yourselves," Port said, "There's a lot of fire coming from the left side of that deflection tower."**

" **I'll take care of it." Ruby said.**

" **I'm going in." Cinder said, "Cover me Porkins."**

" **I'm right with ya, Red Three." The fat pilot said. They quickly buzzed the tower, firing as they went, and destroyed it.**

"I really hope that's his real name and not a nickname." Jaune whispered to Pyrrha, who giggled a bit.

" **You have no respect for the rule of dibs, do you Cin?" Ruby joked over the radio, making Cinder smile.**

" **I got a problem here." Porkins said.**

" **Eject." Cinder told him, her smile disappearing.**

" **I can hold it." he said.**

" **Pull up!" Cinder yelled, seeing that he couldn't.**

" **No, I'm al-AGH!" his fighter blew up in a gout of flame, for seemingly no reason.**

" **The Rebel base will be in firing range in seven minutes." The bridge officer said as Sienna tensely watched the unfolding battle.**

" **Squad leaders," the commander back on the Rebel moon said, "We've picked up a new group of signals. Imperial fighters headed your way."**

" **My scope's negative, I don't see anything." Ruby said, checking her instruments.**

" **Keep your eyes open." Port ordered, "Here they come." Half a dozen TIE fighters descended upon the rebel fighters, breaking formation to engage in one-on-one fights.**

" **Once you pick one up, watch it!" Ruby warned.**

" **I can't see it!" Cinder yelled. "This asshole's on me tight. I can't shake him."**

" **Hang on Cin, I'll be right there." Ruby assured her. She moved as fast as her ship allowed, quickly finding and destroying the enemy fighter.**

 **In the hangar, Vader walked up to a pair of pilots. "Several fighters have broken off from the main group. Come with me." She ordered, leading the pilots to a different hangar.**

"Think she's caught on?" Pyrrha whispered to Jaune.

"More likely she's just reacting as best she can." He replied.

" **Watch yourself, Ruby. You got yourself a friend there." Jaune said as a TIE fighter began tailing Ruby. The enemy managed to hit one of Ruby's engines, but she didn't blow up.**

" **I'm hit, but not bad. Penny, see what you can do with it!" Penny whistled as she began to perform what maintenance she could.**

" **Red Seven, can you see Red Five?" Cinder asked.**

" **Negative, barely able to dodge all this fire." Red Seven replied "Red Five, where are you?"**

" **I can't shake him!" Ruby yelled.**

" **I'm on him, Ruby. Hold on." Jaune said, gaining sight of Ruby.**

" **Darn it, Cin, where are you?" Ruby said angrily. She didn't have to wait long before another X-Wing screamed past her directly at her pursuer and blasted him to bits. "Thanks Jaune."**

" **Nice shooting Arc. I owe you one." Cinder said.**

" **Red Leader, this is Gold Leader." Oobleck said, "We're starting our attack run." The Y-wings soared into the trench, dodging laser fire left and right. "The exhaust port is marked and locked in. Switch all power to front deflector screens. Gold Five, how many guns do you think there are?"**

" **I'd say about twenty. Some on towers, some on the surface."**

 **They continued to dodge laser fire as the Death Star passed the five minute mark.**

" **Switch to targeting computers." Oobleck ordered. A metal box moved forward and dropped into position next to his eye. It displayed his distance from the target ticking down and a pair of vertical lines moving closer together. No sooner had they switched did the lasers cease fire.**

" **The guns, they've stopped." Gold Five said. A growing anxiety blossomed in Oobleck's gut. Why? Why would they let up their suppressing fire? It was likely that the enemy analysts had figured out their attack pattern, and if that were the case, the best option would be to** _ **increase**_ **the barrage, not stop it completely. What the hell were they playing at?**

" **Stabilize rear deflectors." Oobleck ordered. "Watch for enemy fighters."**

" **Here they come!" Gold Five reported. "Three marks at 210!"**

 **A pair of TIE fighters flanked another fighter with a different wing design.**

" **Stay in attack formation. I'll take them myself." Vader ordered. The enemy trio fell in behind their quarry and waited. Once Vader had acquired a lock, she fired on the Y-Wing on the left, destroying it.**

" **It's no good, I can't maneuver!" Oobleck said.**

" **Stay on target." Gold Five said.**

" **We're too close!"**

" **Stay on target!"**

" **Loosen up!" Oobleck ordered before Vader turned her guns on him and he was no more.**

" **Gold Five to Red Leader." He said as he pulled out of the trench. "Lost Oobleck, lost Hutch. They came from behind- " was all he could get out before Vader finished the job.**

 **On the bridge, the deck officer walked up to Sienna, who was far more relaxed now that Vader was out there and the battle seemed to be going in their favor.**

" **We've analyzed their attack, ma'am, and there is a danger." He told her, "Shall I have your shuttle standing-by?"**

" **Evacuate? In our moment of triumph?" Sienna looked at the man as if he had taken leave of his senses, "I think you overestimate their chances."**

" **Rebel base three minutes and closing."**

 **Outside, Port took overall field command. "Red lads, this is Red Leader. Rendevous at mark 6.1"**

" **This is Red Two, headed your way."**

" **Red Three standing by."**

" **Red Leader, this is Base One. Keep half your group out of range for the next run." The commander ordered.**

" **Copy that, Base One. Ruby, take Reds Two and Three. Hold up here and wait for my signal to start your run."**

 **A trio of X-Wings began their run and it went much the same as Gold Squadron's run; they were bombarded but easily dodged the turbolasers, which promptly stopped after a time. However, this time, Red Squadron was ready.**

" **Keep your eyes out for those fighters." Port said.**

" **There's too much interference." His wingman said, "Red Five can you see them?"**

" **Not yet," Ruby said, scanning the trench line, "Wait, there they are. Coming in at point 35."**

" **I see 'em." The wingman said while Port activated his targeting computer.**

" **Almost in range, just hold' em off for a few seconds." Port said, looking into his targeting computer.**

 **As Port closed in on the objective, Vader's squad tightened up their formation while Vader herself took aim. Vader took one down, then one of her wingmen took out the other, leaving Port on his own. But they had bought him enough time. His computer went off and he fired his torpedoes.**

" **X away!" he cheered, pulling out of the trench as the torpedoes exploded, rocking that section of the Death Star and sending the crew there falling to the ground.**

" **Red Leader, please confirm." The commander ordered.**

" **Negative." Port reported, "Negative. It didn't go in. Just impacted on the surface."**

 **Ruby looked down and saw the modified TIE fighter on Port's tail. "Red Leader, we're right above you. Turn to point 05, we'll cover you." She said.**

" **Negative. Hold your position, I just lost my starboard engine. Get set up for your attack run." He ordered. Vader fired and hit him in one of his engines. Port yelled as he struggled to keep his X-Wing in the air. The last Ruby saw of him was an explosion that tore across the surface of the station as he crashed.**

 **Anger and loss filled Ruby, but she pushed them aside, knowing that she was the Rebellion's last chance at destroying the Empire's greatest weapon.**

" **Rebel base, one minute and closing." Sienna smiled to herself. Victory was within her grasp and she could almost taste it.**

" **Cin, Jaune let's close it up." Ruby said, taking charge of what was left of the strike force. "We're going in, but do it at full throttle. That oughtta keep those fighters off our tail."**

" **Right with ya boss." Jaune said.**

" **Ruby, at that speed will you be able to pull out in time?" Cinder said.**

" **Be just like Begger's Canyon back home." Ruby said confidently as they dived into the trench.**

"Think they can pull it off?" Yang asked Blake.

"Literary logic would say that the third time is the charm." She replied, hand on her chin, "But the current precedent isn't exactly in their favor."

" **We'll stay back far enough to cover you." Cinder said, making a few adjustments.**

" **My scope shows the tower, but I can't see the exhaust port." Jaune said, "You sure the computer can hit it?"**

" **Increase speed to full throttle." Ruby ordered as they entered the worst of the bombardment.**

" **What about that tower?" Jaune reiterated.**

" **You worry about those fighters! I'll worry about the tower." Ruby retorted. "Penny, that stabilizer's broken loose again! See if you can't lock it down." Penny whistled as she got to work.**

 **When the towers stopped firing, Cinder and Jaune began looking around for the fighters while Ruby got set up for her shot. On cue, the enemy trio came up behind them and one of the wingmen took a shot at Jaune. It hit, but didn't destroy him.**

" **I'm hit!" Jaune said, looking at the damage readout. "I can't stay with you."**

" **Pull out, Jaune. You can't do any good back there." Ruby ordered.**

" **Sorry." Jaune said as he peeled out of the trench, leaving only Cinder and Ruby against Vader's squad.**

"No reaction, Vomit Boy?" Yang teased.

Jaune shrugged. "It's the right call. If all I'll do is get myself or someone else killed, it's best to get me clear."

" **Let him go. Stay on the leader." Vader ordered.**

" **Make it fast, Rubes." Cinder said with worry evident in her voice, "They're coming in much faster this time. I can't hold 'em myself."**

" **Penny, try and increase the power!"**

" **Ruby, hurry- wait. Wait!" Cinder said, struggling to make needed adjustments before Vader fired and blew her up too. And now Ruby was alone. She dodged as best she could while turning on her targeting computer.**

" **Use the Force, Ruby." She heard Taiyang's voice tell her. She ignored it, focusing on the computer. "Let go, Ruby."**

 **Vader frowned behind her mask. "The Force is strong with this one." She said to herself.**

" **Ruby, trust me." Ruby thought about all she had learned and been through. Taiyang hadn't led her wrong yet. Maybe it was time she put her money where her mouth was and started really trusting the Force. She pressed a button and her targeting computer retracted.**

" **She's turned off her computer." The commander said, "Ruby, what's wrong?"**

" **Nothing, I'm alright." She replied. Vader took a shot at her, but Penny took the hit. "Penny!" Ruby yelled as her robot friend screamed in pain.**

" **Rebel base in range."**

" **You may fire when ready." Sienna ordered. The fire control room set to work preparing to fire the Death Star's main cannon.**

" **I have you now." Vader said as she gained a lock on Ruby. She was about to fire when one of her wingmen blew-up. "What?!"**

" **Yeah-hoo!" Yang cheered as the** _ **Falcon**_ **came into view. Vader's other wingman lost control in the confusion, and accidently ran into Vader's ship before crashing himself. "You're all clear, kid! Now let's blow this thing and go home." Yang said over the Rebel radio, surprising even Weiss.**

"Oh yeah! Big Sis to the rescue!" Yang cheered.

"SHUT UP!"

 **Ruby fired and watched as the torpedoes entered the shaft. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and quickly got the hell out of Dodge, Yang and the remaining two strike fighters right behind her.**

 **As they cleared the halfway point, the Death Star exploded with such force that it created a second blast wave, barely visible after the first.**

" **Great shot, kid. That was one in a million!" Yang said.**

" **Remember, the Force will be with you, always." Taiyang's spectral voice told her.**

 **Upon her return, Ruby was greeted with a hero's welcome, Weiss running up to hug her. She had built up such speed that Ruby couldn't resist picking her up and spinning her around. Yang soon made her way to them.**

" **You daughter of a bastard, I knew you'd come back! I just knew it!" Ruby said happily, throwing a hug on her.**

" **Well, I wasn't gonna let you get all the credit and take all the reward." She said, giving Ruby a nooggie.**

" **I knew there was more to you than just money." Weiss said happily.**

 **Their smiles all fell as Penny was lowered to the ground. "Oh, man." Ruby said. Penny was, in a word, fucked. She was covered in blaster burns and several of her panels hung open, revealing the components within. Ren was probably the most distraught.**

" **Penny! Penny! Speak to me!" he turned to a technician, "You can fix her can't you?"**

" **We'll get to work on her right away." He assured Ren.**

" **You must repair her!" He turned to Ruby. "Ma'am if any of my circuits or gears would help, I'll gladly donate them."**

" **She'll be alright, Ren." Ruby assured him before walking off with Weiss, Blake and Yang.**

 **A few days later, a grand ceremony was held within the base. The entirety of the Rebellion on the planet was gathered within the largest hall, organized by occupation, with Weiss and the other leaders standing on a raised dais. Ruby, Blake and Yang walked down the aisle created by the Rebels, Ruby and Yang in front, with Blake bringing up the rear.**

 **Weiss had changed into a more regal dress, done her hair up in a braided bun, and wore a necklace of chrome squares. Ruby was wearing black dress pants and shirt under a red jacket. Yang remained in her usual gear, though she had put on dress pants and wore a less revealing shirt. Blake thought such things were silly, and wore her usual outfit.**

" **Eyes, Front!" Blake called out as the trio reached the base. On command, the rest of the Rebels turned to face the dais. The trio reached the top, staying one step down. Weiss stepped forward and regarded the three people who were now essentially galactic heroes. She gave Ruby a big smile, but when Yang did the same, her smile was more polite than anything. The Old General stepped forward with a trio of medallions, one for each hero, which Weiss herself placed around their necks. When she finished, all three bowed to her.**

 **The ceremony was briefly interrupted when Penny whistled loudly and wobbled out from behind a newly shined Ren. All four members of Team RWBY chuckled at her antics before turning to face the assembled Rebellion. They were met with jubilant applause and cheers as the scene changed to the final credits.**

"Wow, you weren't kidding about how good this movie is." Roman admitted, Neo nodding in agreement.

"10/10." Nora agreed.

"The music was pretty kickass." Sun said. "I especially liked the music from the beginning, the score from when they're approaching the Death Star and the space battle score."

" _I'm glad you think so Mr. Wukong. The composer for these movies is a true genius. In fact, he also created the music for Jurassic Park and another series you might see in the future. And yes, I've sent the soundtrack directly to your scroll."_

"Awesome."

"So, what do you think is next?" Yang said as Ruby and Weiss went to fetch more supplies.

"I don't know, but I'm hoping for something different." Pyrrha said. "Except for romance."

"Not a fan, I take it?"

"Not really, no. I'm not much of a romantic and even rom-coms are extremely cringey in my opinion."

"Hm. Noted."

* * *

 **Phew! I am tired as all hell. Not from writing this, but from the last few days. It's a long story, and kind of a personal one, so let's just say that 'complications arose, ensued, and were overcome.'**

 **Now, a few notes about the future of this fic:**

 **1.) From now on, I will be taking a two-week break in between movies in order to plan out future ideas, as well as get a head-start on writing them. It's more of a break from posting than a break from writing.**

 **2.) I will be adopting a format for movie selections. Basically, after this, we will have the aforementioned medieval comedy movie featuring Dragonslayer. After that will The Lost World. After that, another filler, then another series movie, then filler, then a series, rinse, repeat, you get the gist of it.**

 **3.) I will be leaving overall movie selection to you lovely folks. I will present you guys with a selection of two movies, you guys vote in the review for that chapter, and majority rules. This will also apply to movie series.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite and leave a Review, and I will see you all in October!**

 **Next Update: 10/1/19**


	44. Chapter 44

**And we are back, bitches! Had me a good little break, though not quite as peaceful as last time. Some of you may already know this, being a personal follower of mine, but I recently started a new story called Wolves of Remnant. It is a Warhammer 40k/RWBY crossover (yes, I realize the RWBY gang would get annihilated within a year at best in the 40k universe) that centers around Jaune as a reborn Leman Russ. I only have two chapters out as a way to test the waters, and I assure you this will in no way effect this story's scheduled releases.**

 **So, in case some of you forgot, this movie is set in medieval times and I classified it as a comedy. Of course, most of you went right to Princess Bride and Monty Python, and I don't fault you for that, but that's not what I had planned. Maybe someday, but not today.**

 **Enjoy.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 44

"So, why do you guys think Logan made us leave the theater?" Nora asked her team.

"Whatever it was, I'm sure it was for a good reason." Ren assured her.

" _Quite the good one, Mr. Ren."_ The white wolf said behind him before turning to the rest of the crowd. _"Everyone, I apologize for the unexpected vacancy, but I assure you it is worth it. You may now return to your seats."_

The group trickled back in slowly to see that the theater had been entirely refurbished. Instead of the usual theater seats, each seat was now a reclining chair with a table attached to the arms. Tablets sat on the tables with an extended list of food and drink items.

" _I felt a change of pace welcome. While the classic theater set up is all well and good, I quite prefer the Cinepolis set up. These chairs are fully reclinable, and come with massage and heating settings as well as being able to combine with neighboring chairs into full sofas or smaller loveseats. The kitchens are now able to handle a variety of gourmet food and drinks, as well as an extended dessert list, that will be delivered directly to your seats. Simply use the tablets to order and it will be delivered as soon as possible."_

"Booze?" Qrow asked.

" _Within a limit, and so long as the customer is of legal drinking age, yes."_

"Ice cream?" Neo signed.

" _Our deal is still in effect, Ms. Neo."_

"Pancakes?" Nora asked.

" _As many as you can eat, but only in stacks of five."_

"Awww, only five per plate?"

" _Moderation is key, Ms. Valkyrie. Now, time for something a little different. Mr. Wukong, I think you will like this._

 **In medieval times a sport arose. Embraced by noble and peasant fans alike though only noble knights could compete. The sport was jousting.**

"Oh, cool, so we're going fantasy now?" Ruby said with a wide smile.

"Anyone notice the slight guitar riff in that opening music?" Sun asked, listening closely.

 **A pair of mounted knights charged each other on opposite sides of a fence. They wore full armor, and aimed heavy lances at each other. The knight on the right took his opponents' blow to his face and eventually fell off, while his opponent took a lesser, glancing blow to the chest.**

 **For one of these knights, an over-the-hill former champion, it was the end. But for his peasant squire, Jaune, it was merely the beginning.**

"Goodie, another one starring me." Jaune deadpanned. "Let's see if this one is as unlike me as the rest."

 _"Like I said, Mr. Arc, an everyman."_

 **A knight sat against a tree, his visor drawn up and flies buzzing around him.**

" **Should we help him?" a man's voice said.**

" **He has to be in the list in two minutes." A second said. It was revealed to be Jaune, bearded with long hair and cloth stuffed up his nose, talking to Sun, clean shaven and abs covered. "Two minutes or forfeit."**

" **Alright, gimme those." Sun said, holding out his hands as Jaune handed him the rags, which Sun stuffed up his own nose. He carefully approached the knight and held his hand in front of his face. Instantly, his face fell and paled. He closed the knight's eyes and shut the visor. "Dead."**

" **What?" Jaune said, hoping he had heard wrong.**

 **Neptune walked up behind Jaune and clapped him on the back. "Three scores to none after two lances." He said with a smile. "All Sir Adam needs to do is not fall off his horse and we've won."**

"Ah, so this one is starring the three bromigos, then?" Sun said.

"Seriously?" Coco asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah. Jaune helped out Neptune big time at the dance. As such, Team SSSN has declared him an official bro."

"I'm... honored? I think?"

" **He's dead." Sun said again.**

" **What do you mean dead?"**

" **The spark of his life is smothered in shite." Sun said sarcastically, "His spirit is gone but his stench remains. That answer your question?"**

" **No, no, no, no, no, he sleeps. Rouse him!" When Sun did nothing, Neptune got angry. "We're minutes from victory. I haven't eaten in three days."**

" **None of us have, Nep!" Jaune shouted back.**

" **We need to get a priest." Sun said grimly.**

" **No, he's not dead!" Neptune yelled, walking up to the dead knight, "Wake up! Come on, huh? Come on, wake up!" he began taking his frustrations out on the knight when hoofbeats could be heard approaching from behind.**

" **Sun." Jaune said, nodding at the man in finery approaching them on horse back.**

" **Squire," He said, considering that enough of a greeting. "Sir Adam must report at once or forfeit the match."**

"Adam?" Yang said, turning to Blake, "You don't think..."

"I want to say no, but then..."

"How many Adams do we know?" Weiss finished.

"But he's a knight." Ruby protested. "Knights are supposed to be the good guys."

"Maybe in fairy tales, Ruby," Velvet interjected, "But this is real life for them. And historically, any person could become a knight if they were of the nobility."

"You realize I can hear you, right?" Adam yelled.

" **Oh, he's-" Sun said before Jaune grabbed his arm.**

" **He's on his way." Jaune said with a smile. The man heard Neptune's yelling and kicking behind the pair, but merely shook it off and rode away. "I'll ride in his place." Jaune said once the herald was far enough away. He moved to stop Neptune before he actually dented the armor. "Strip his armor. I'm riding in his place."**

 **As they worked, Sun stood at the top of the hill, his hands on his hips.**

" **What's your name, Jaune?" he asked, completely serious. He went ignored as Jaune and Neptune began undoing the straps on the armor plates. "I'm asking you, Jaune Arc, to answer me with your name. It's not** _ **Sir**_ **Jaune. It's not Count or Duke or Earl Jaune. It sure as hell ain't** _ **King**_ **Jaune."**

" **I'm well aware of that, Sun." Jaune said, as Neptune helped him into their dead master's gear.**

" **You have to be of noble birth to compete!"**

" _ **A**_ **detail." Jaune argued. "The landscape is food. You wanna eat or not?"**

" **If the nobles find out who you are, there'll be the Devil to pay."**

 **Jaune grinned. "Then pray that they don't."**

"He's playing with his life." Velvet said. "If he gets caught, he'll be killed."

"Only if he gets caught." Coco said with a grin.

 **The people in the stands were stomping their feet and clapping rhythmically as a classic rock song began to play.**

 _ **Buddy, you're a boy**_

 _ **Make a big noise**_

 _ **Playing in the street**_

 _ **Gonna be a big man someday**_

 _ **You got mud on your face**_

 _ **You big disgrace**_

 _ **Kicking your can all over the place**_

 _ **Singin' We will, we will rock you!**_

 _ **We will, we will rock you!**_

 **The knights joined in, bashing their breast plates to the rhythm, as did the nobles, though they were far more subtle about it.**

 _ **Buddy, you're a young man**_

 _ **Hard man**_

 _ **Shouting in the streets**_

 _ **Gonna take on the world someday**_

 _ **You got blood on your face**_

 _ **You big disgrace**_

 _ **Waving your banner all over the place**_

 _ **Singin' we will, we will rock you! (Sing it now!)**_

 _ **We will, we will rock you!**_

 **A group of shirtless fat men were cheering, spilling their ales all over the place without a care, while a young girl danced provocatively in the stands a bit further down.**

 _ **Buddy, you're an old man**_

 _ **Poor man**_

 _ **Pleading with your eyes**_

 _ **Gonna make you some peace someday**_

 _ **You got mud on your face**_

 _ **You big disgrace**_

 _ **Somebody better put you back into your place!**_

 _ **We will, we will rock you!**_

 _ **We will, we will rock you! (Everybody now!)**_

 _ **We will, we will rock you!**_

 **Jaune sat atop a horse fully armored, his steed led by Sun and his lance being carried by Neptune. As they approached the lists, an epic guitar solo started. When a trio of trumpet players stopped playing, so did the guitar solo.**

"I am now much more interested." Sun said.

"That was a clever trick with the trumpets." Weiss chuckled.

"That's what you're interested in? How about the epic rock song we just heard, did ya notice that?"

 **The herald from before stood on a podium in front of the noble seats. "The score stands at three lances to none, in favor of Sir Adam" he announced, "Lord Philip of Aragon. Stand ye ready?"**

 **A knight in dark armor riding a fully clothed destrier raised his lance to show he was ready.**

 **The herald nodded and turned to Jaune. "Sir Adam. Stand ye ready?"**

 **Jaune raised his lance in return.**

" **You ready?" Neptune asked.**

" **Of course. I tilted against Sir Adam many times, you know." Jaune said defensively.**

" **In practice, as his target. You never struck him."**

" **Details."**

" **Landscape, then." Sun interrupted. "Stay on the horse. He needs three points to beat you, so a broken lance won't do. He has to unhorse you."**

" **I know how to score, Sun. I have waited my whole life for this moment."**

 **Neptune's face scrunched up in confusion. "You've waited your whole life for Sir Adam to shite himself to death?"**

"Is that even physically possible?" Nora asked.

"Nora..." Ren groaned.

"No, Ren, it's a legitimate question."

"The only possible way I can think of," Qrow said, thinking back, "Is if he was losing fluids faster than his body could replace them or take in. Cholera most likely."

"You seem quite well-informed." Ghira commented.

Qrow shrugged. "Eh, when you grow up in a bandit tribe, you learn a thing or twenty."

 **The two knights waited as a flag bearer lowered a flag in the middle of the lists. Quickly, he raised it and ran for the stands, signaling the competitors to go. Jaune immediately kicked his horse into action, charging forward with Sun and Neptune urging him forward. He tried to bring his lance to bear but couldn't get it to lower fully, missing the metal cradle on his side. His opponent had no such misfortune, bringing his lance to bear with practiced ease.**

" **Get it in the cradle. Get it in the cradle." Sun muttered anxiously.**

" **Get it in the cradle!" Neptune yelled.**

 **As the two drew closer, Jaune managed to get his lance partially into position, but it was too late. Sir Philip slammed his lance into Jaune's visor, breaking the lance with the impact. Jaune dropped his own lance and forced all his attention to staying on the damned horse.**

 **Sun and Neptune flinched from the impact, but quickly ran to Jaune's aid, celebrating that they had effectively won.**

" **Jaune!" Sun yelled as he got close, "Jaune, are you alive?"**

" **We won!" Neptune laughed.**

 **After the crowd had calmed, Jaune stood before the noble holding the tournament and, presumably, his wife, Sun and Neptune flanking him.**

" **Sir Adam." The noble said. Jaune turned to the source of the noise, Neptune stopping him in the proper position. The noble looked to his herald, who approached the trio.**

" **Sir Adam, remove your helmet." He ordered.**

" **Um, my lord." Jaune said, his voice somewhat muffled, "I'm afraid the final blow of the lance bent it onto my head."**

" **He says the final blow of- " Neptune said before Jaune cut him off with a hand to the gut.**

 **The herald smiled smugly at what he thought was Neptune's admonishment, and turned back to the noble. "I present your champion, milord."**

 **The noble nodded and the crowd cheered as he took a cushion from the lady standing next to him, upon which sat a gold peacock feather and presented it to Jaune. Sun helped him stand up straight, and moved his arm to the right level so that he could grab the ornament. He held it aloft and the crowd cheered even louder. The noble clapped politely, but shook his head in exasperation at the commotion.**

"No matter what time period you're in, rich people are always the same." Emerald grumbled.

"Gigantic assholes?" Roman asked.

"Grimm Dragon-sized."

 **A few hours later, on a road far from the tournament grounds, Sun was haggling with a passing trader.**

" **Twenty." He offered, holding the golden feather in his hands.**

" **No, ten." The trader, an older man with a long, greying beard replied.**

" **Fifteen."**

" **Done." The trader said, shaking Sun's hand and reaching into his coin purse. He handed Sun the money, and he then handed over the feather after he had counted the coins.**

" **Good doin' business with ya." Sun said with a smile, his tail swishing behind him in satisfaction. He walked back to Jaune and Neptune, divvying up the loot. "Fifteen silver lien, though he didn't want the pillow. That's five for Jaune," he handed Jaune his cut, "Five for Neptune, and five for Sun, who's going straight home to Vale."**

" **Straight to the pub for me." Neptune said happily, "Eel pie, brie tart, maybe a woman, Gods permitting."**

" **We could do this, you know." Jaune said, having ran the idea over in his head for the past few hours.**

" **Do it? It's already done, Jauney Boy, if the silver in your hands wasn't clue enough." Sun joked.**

" **No, I mean, we can do this." Jaune said turning to the other two men. "We can be champions." When they didn't respond, he said, "Give us your coins." Confused, the two men allowed him to take their winnings. "Alright, so that's one for you." He gave Neptune a coin, "And one for you." He handed another to Sun, "That leaves… 13. That's 13 for training and outfitting. Now, the tournament in Shion is a month from now. In one month, we could split a prize bigger than this one." He held up the coins for emphasis. "In one month, we could be on our way to glory and riches none of us ever dreamed of."**

" **In one month, we could be laid in a ditch with Sir Adam. Worse for me, if you don't recall." Sun said, bringing his tail up over his shoulder as a reminder. "I don't want glory and riches, Jaune. I just wanna go home."**

"That's something I never thought of at Beacon." Ruby said, "Just how much I would miss home."

"And all it took to realize that was going out into the big wide world." Qrow grinned when Ruby blew a raspberry at him.

" **Tansy cakes with peppermint cream." Neptune said, his mind in agreement with his stomach, "Dilled veal balls with squashed fritters. I'll take my five now, thanks."**

 **Jaune could see only one way to end this. He began to walk up a hill, Neptune and Sun hot on his heels.**

" **You can't even joust." Sun protested.**

" **Well, most of it is the guts to take a blow, to strike one." Jaune argued. "Guts, I have. And technique? I have a month to learn that. Besides, the sword!" he stopped at that point, and grinned. "Name a man better with a sword than me."**

" **In the practice ring!" Neptune argued.**

" **You're not of noble birth!" Sun argued, supporting his blue-haired friend.**

" **Then we lie." Jaune said. Seriously, how hard of a concept was this to get? "How did the nobles become noble in the first place, huh? They took it, at the point of a sword. I'll do it with a lance!"**

" **A blunted lance." Neptune pointed out.**

" **Details, Nep. A man** _ **can**_ **change his stars. And I won't spend the rest of my life as nothing."**

"It is frightening how much this version of Jaune is like ours." Yang commented.

"Ideas above his station, check." Jaune said, counting off the similarities on his hand, "Willing to do whatever he has to do to succeed, check. Lack of formal training, check."

" **That is nothing." Sun said, pointing to a gallows behind him and the corpse hanging from it. "And nothing is where glory will take us."**

" **We're the sons of peasants." Neptune said, "Glory and riches and stars are beyond our grasp. But a full stomach? That dream _can_ come true."**

 **Seeing no other choice, Jaune walked past them, a little further up the hill so that he had the high ground before turning back to them.**

" **If you can take your coins, go to Vale, eat cake." Jaune said, holding a bunch of coins in either hand, "But if you can't, you come with me. Fair?" he took a rough fighting pose.**

 **Sun and Neptune looked at each other, nodded, then turned to Jaune, determination burning in their eyes as they tackled him to the ground. Sun laid down on one of his arms, holding him by the wrist while he used his tail to pry his fingers open. Jaune tried to get him off, but Neptune grabbed his other hand and began biting it.**

 **With a yell, Jaune threw him off and managed to free himself from Sun when he rolled off, chuckling with coins in hand.**

" **You see how hungry I am now?" Neptune yelled.**

" **Dammit, Nep! Damn you, and your stomach!" Jaune yelled back. "Sun please. We have thirteen silver pieces between us. Three men can change their stars, faunus or not."**

 **Sun sighed, shaking his head. "God love you, Jaune." He said in resignation.**

 **Jaune grinned. If Sun was staying, so would Neptune. "I know, I know. No one else will." He said, hugging his senior.**

"This is going to blow up in their faces, I can already tell." Cinder joked as she munched on some popcorn.

* * *

 **Alright guys, time for some real talk.**

 **So, in case some of you don't follow RT beyond RWBY or RvB or their other shows and channels, let's recap, because I have been wanting to talk about this for a while now. A little over two weeks ago, Rooster Teeth let go of over 50 employees across all departments, except for live events. In addition, Matt Hullum stepped down as CEO, Burnie stepped down as CCO, and both have transitioned into creative-focused roles along with Geoff, who now acts as an executive creative director. Additionally, Gray Haddock, voice of Roman Torchwick and a man who I consider one of RWBY's founding fathers is no longer with the company.**

 **Now, cards on the table, I don't know shit about running a business. Hell, I'm surprised I'm even able to keep this going regularly for as long as I have, so I am not going to sit here and act like some arm-chair CEO who knows everything about everything, because I don't. I think Geoff himself put it best during a recent Off Topic; this is no doubt one of the darkest days in Rooster Teeth's history, and I hope it remains so for the foreseeable future. I hope this is the only time Rooster Teeth will let go of that many employees at once and that so many managerial changes will mean nothing but good things for the company, perhaps even something of a renaissance in their content.**

 **Perhaps Monty said it best: Keep moving forward.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite, and leave a Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 10/8/19**


	45. Chapter 45- A Knight's Tale, Part 2

**Okay, so not all of you guys are familiar with this movie. For that, I am sorry, but A Knight's Tale is one of Heath Ledger's best movies, and you should watch it right the fuck now. Go on. I'll wait.**

 **Also, the RWBY Vol. 7 trailer dropped and I am as hyped for that as I was for the in-ring debut of The Fiend Bray Wyatt, which is to say, a whole fucking lot. Jaune's new hair on the other hand, no. Just no. I would have suggested they give him a beard, but it seems the entire budget for that went to Ironwood. At least Ren and Nora got some cool redesigns.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 45

 **Another rock song, Low Rider by War, began to play as a training montage began to play. Jaune rode through a forest wearing the padding for his armor and a training lance in hand. He barely missed the target dummy, pulling out at the last second.**

" **Oh, come on!" Neptune yelled. He tried three more times, missing each one.**

" **Unlucky!" Sun assured him, after the most recent miss.**

" **I think he's getting worse." Neptune said honestly.**

" **He is getting worse, isn't he?" Sun replied.**

"At least they're honest about it." Jaune chuckled.

 **On the fifth try, he missed the target with his lance, but clipped it with his shoulder. Doing exactly as designed, it swung around and hit him in the back with a sandbag, knocking him off his horse.**

 **Deciding to move on for the day, they began practicing with wooden longswords. Sun pelted him with attacks, but Jaune blocked every one.**

" **Switch!" he called out, dodging Sun's next attack and turning to face a faster, fresher, Neptune. He was more unpredictable due to him venting his frustrations out on Jaune, but it merely pushed Jaune to do better. He tripped Neptune over his own feet and he fell onto his back. Jaune aimed the tip of his practice sword at Neptune's throat.**

"It's always easier with training weapons." Pyrrha commented.

"Yeah, you wouldn't get that kind of speed with a real longsword. Too much weight." Jaune agreed.

"Speaks for yourselves." Ruby preened.

" **Switch." The blue-haired boy said, exhausted.**

 **They went back to the lance, using Neptune to hold a target shield for Jaune.**

" **Glory and riches." He repeated to himself as Jaune charged him, lance lowered, but he chickened out at the last chance. Sun pushed him back into place and held him there as Jaune tried again. Unable to move out of the way, Neptune just dropped the shield onto Sun's foot. to his credit, Sun managed to stay standing and held in his cry of pain, though he did use Neptune to hold himself up.**

 **Neptune turned to him. "You see how dangerous it is?"**

"We make for some pretty good comedy." Sun laughed.

"Agreed." Neptune chuckled.

 **The next day, to allow the horse to rest, Jaune stood in a wood cart being pulled by Sun and Neptune. They ran through the forest under a rope, from which hung a pair of rings Jaune was supposed to catch using his lance.**

" **You missed." Neptune stated afterwards.**

" **You've done it dozens of times." Sun said, panting.**

" **Well, I guess that means we should do it again." Jaune said, moving back to the cart. "Come on." When they didn't move, he began to taunt them. "Come on, ponies"**

" **Fong him." Sun said to Neptune as Jaune broke into a run, soon followed by his fellow squires.**

 **A while later, Jaune stood upon a narrow boat in full armor, doing the same exercise as before, with Sun and Neptune pulling the boat on either side of the river. This time, Jaune managed to catch a ring, but he fell backwards into the river. Sun and Neptune laughed at his expense and walked over to where he fell in. soon their laughter ceased when Jaune failed to surface.**

" **Any minute now." Sun said, thinking it was a joke.**

 **A few days later, Jaune was in the padding armor, sparing both Sun and Neptune at once with the swords. Needless to say, he wiped the floor with them, the spar ending with Jaune on one knee before Sun, who was on all fours, and Neptune, who had fallen backwards over Sun's back.**

 **Then, they practiced jousting, and Jaune hit the target every time until there were no more practice lances to go around.**

"And thus, practice makes perfect." Pyrrha said proudly.

"Yes, dear, you were right." Jaune said sarcastically, earning him a punch on the shoulder.

 **A few days later, Jaune walked down a road on horseback, his hair cut to his normal length and his beard shaven, as befit a knight.**

" **It's my turn to ride." Neptune proclaimed.**

" **No, we haven't reached the mile marker yet." Jaune said, "And I'm so sure you should. If we passed another knight, how would it look if my squire rode, while I walked?"**

"Like you actually cared?" Ruby suggested.

"It would be shameful." Velvet corrected. "This is more medieval historical, Ruby, not medieval fantasy. You need to consider how different this time period is compared to ours."

" **Well, I don't give a crap! It's my turn!" Neptune yelled, walking up to Jaune and the horse.**

" **Hey, hey, look, maybe nobody should be riding." Sun said, "The horse isn't what he used to be, and we need him fresh as possible, right?"**

" **Yeah, I suppose your right." Jaune grumbled as he stepped down from the horse. The second he stepped off the horse, a man with long black hair and pink eyes walked between them, stark naked.**

" **Morning." he said simply, patting the horse's neck as he walked past them.**

"Well that's a hell of an entrance." Yang laughed.

"I'm just surprised Nora's not drooling at the sight of it." Weiss teased.

"Meh, nothing I haven't seen before on accident." Nora said, before thinking, 'Or on purpose.'

"Can confirm." Ren said.

"Same." Jaune and Pyrrha said together.

" **Hey, you." Jaune said. The man stopped and turned around to face them. Thankfully, the camera cut off at his waist. "What are you doing?"**

" **Oh, you know, trudging." He replied. They looked at him, confused "You know, trudging? To trudge? To trudge the slow, weary depressing, yet determined walk of a man who has nothing left in his life, except the impulse to simply soldier on." He began to resume walking.**

" **Oh. Were you robbed?"**

" **Oh, uh, interesting question, actually." Ren chuckled, "Yes. And then, at the same time, a huge, resounding 'No.' It's more a sort of involuntary vow of poverty, really." He resumed walking, with the trio of squires following him. "But, you know, on the brighter side, trudging does represent pride. Pride, resolve, and faith in the good Lord Almighty, please, Christ, rescue me from my current tribu- Gah!" he yelled, grasping his foot and kissing the spot where he had stepped on a rock. "-Lations."**

"Now there are some terms I haven't heard in a while." Ozcar said.

"What do you mean, Ozpin?" Glynda asked.

"Ms. Scarlatina, would you explain?"

"Sure. Making a long explanation slightly less long, they're terms from a very old monotheistic religion. One that is only practiced outside the kingdoms in small communities of a few dozen people."

" **Who are ya?" Sun asked, as the trio came to a stop.**

" _ **Aqua lilium inter spinas."**_ **He replied, spitting on the ground. "The water lily among the thorns. Lie Ren's the name. Writing is the game." When none of them replied, he turned back to them. "Ren? Lie Ren, the writer?"**

" **A what?" Neptune asked.**

"' **A what? A what?' A writer. You know, I write, with ink and parchment. For a lien, I'll scribble you anything you want, from summons, decrees, edicts, warrants, patents of nobility." That got Jaune's attention. "I've even been known to jot down a poem or two, if the muse is right. Probably read my book?** _ **The Book of the Duchess**_ **?" Nothing. "Fine, well, it was allegorical."**

" **Well, we won't hold that against you." Sun said, "That's for each man to decide himself."**

" **Did you say patents of nobility?" Jaune asked.**

 **A small smile grew on Ren's face. "That's right. And you gentlemen are?"**

" **Well, uh," Jaune said thinking fast. "Well, I am Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein, from Mantle. And these here are my faithful squires, uh, Delves of Dodgington," he indicated Sun, "and, uh, Fowlehurst of Crewe." He pointed at Neptune.**

" **I'm Ozpin the Wise. Pleased to meet you." Ren said, shaking their hands before walking off. "No, wait a minute, I'm Ozma the Great! No, I'm Saint John the Baptist!"**

" **Alright!" Jaune said drawing a dagger and pointing it at Ren, who fell over onto his ass. "Hold you tongue, sir, or lose it."**

 **Ren grinned, "Okay. Now, you see, that I do believe, Sir Ulrich."**

" **Thank you, Ren." Jaune said, putting the dagger away.**

" **Got anything else to say, Master Nude, or having failed your test, may we be on our way?" Sun said.**

" **Oh, off to the tournament, are you?"**

" **Well, this is the road to Shion, isn't it?" Neptune said sarcastically.**

" **Well, you know, that really remains to be seen. See, they're limiting the field at Shion." That caused the three men to turn back to him. "Noble birth must be established for four generations on either side of the family. Patents of nobility must be provided." Jaune sighed, knowing exactly where this was going. "Listen, clothe me, shoe me, for God's sakes feed me, let me ride that horse a bit and you'll have your patents."**

"He's got 'em by the short and curlies now." Roman grinned.

"He's good, but you're better, Boss." Neo signed.

" **Come on." Neptune growled as the trio held a private conference.**

" **Patents of nobility." Jaune said.**

" **We need him." Sun agreed.**

" **Alright, you know what, fine." Neptune said in resignation, "Let me handle it."**

" **Be nice." Sun said as Neptune knelt next to Ren.**

" **All right, uh, betray us, and I will fong you until your insides are out, your outsides are in. Your entrails will become your extails." Jaune and Sun quietly began cracking up at his attempts at intimidation, "I will rip… pain! Lots of pain!"**

"My legs have turned to jelly, Neptune." Ren said evenly. "Please, Nora, save me from this terrifying man."

"It's okay, Renny." Nora said dramatically, hugging Ren and petting his head, "The bad man can't get you here."

"Piss off." Neptune said with a smile, tossing a little popcorn at them.

 **Tournament Grounds**

 **Shion**

 **A (thankfully) fully-clothed Ren stepped up to a panel of tournament officials sitting at a table in front of a row of hanging shields.**

" **May I present my Lord Ulrich," he said formally, "Whose mother's father was Shilhard von Rechberg, son of the Duke Guelph of Saxony, son of Ghibellines, son of Wendish, the fourth Earl of Brunswick, the same Wendish who inherited the- "**

" **That'll do, herald." An official said impatiently, "Six generations is more than enough. Just show me the patents." Ren nodded and unroll a parchment scroll wrapped in leather. The Official looked them over and found nothing amiss. "Indicate in which events Lord Ulrich shall be competing." Ren took a small mallet and hit the shields that had crossed lances and crossed swords. "His first opponent shall be Roger Lord Mortimer."**

" **Thank you very much." Ren said with a satisfied smile and a bow.**

"Welp, unlike me, you aren't bullshitting, Ren." Jaune said.

"I am offended you would think so." Ren replied.

 **Once they were a fair distance away, Jaune started laughing to himself. "I can't believe that worked. Nice job, Ren. I have to thank you. I didn't think we had a chance." Ren, however, only half heard him, his eyes drawn to the sight of a group of men playing dice.**

" **My pleasure, Jaune." He replied once they had walked past the gamblers. "Now, if you don't mind, I think I'll stick around. See how things turn out."**

" **Act as my herald, and you'll receive a share of the winnings." Jaune offered.**

" **Done." Ren said, shaking hands to make it official. "Now, if you don't mind, I need to see a man about a dog."**

 **Jaune spent a few minutes riding his horse through the town, singing a tune he made up as he went along. A few verses made folks laugh if they got the references. He continued for a while longer until he came across a breathtaking sight: a blonde beauty with lilac eyes dressed in white. Their eyes met for a moment before she walked off down the street.**

"Ayy, it's ya girl." Yang said.

"Clearly the love interest." Blake said, making a note. "So, Nora, what shall we call this one?"

"Dragonslayer." She said.

"I approve." Yang said.

"Lemme guess." Jaune said, "I'm also compatible with every eligable woman I know as well, right?"

" _Yes, except for Ms. Valkyrie. In every universe I've seen, she always winds up with the same person."_

"Ten guesses at who." Ruby whispered to Weiss.

"I only need one." She replied.

 **Awe struck, Jaune followed after her like a lost puppy, wanting to just see her one more time, maybe even get her name. He continued even after she met up with a girl her age with black hair, amber eyes and kitty ears. As he got closer, he realized he didn't know what to say, so he slowed his pace so he could think. Yang heard him slow his pace and smiled, knowing what effect she must be having on him.**

" **Would you speak to me?" he asked as his horse pulled up alongside the pair.**

" **Ah, to speak." Yang said, stepping into a stone building. She knew exactly what she was doing, though Jaune remained focused solely on her, drowning out all else. "Bur, sir, my sex are marked by their silence."**

" **Oh, I would hear you speak if it cost me my ears." Jaune said, trying a line he thought sounded romantic, if a little bit cheesy.**

" **That is well, for I do not want silence in my life." Yang said, a little happy about the comment.**

" **Tell me your name."**

 **She shook her head with a smile. "Would you care if I were ugly?"**

" **Yes." She raised an eyebrow. "I mean, no. I mean- If- "**

"Digging your hole already, eh, lover boy?" Yang teased.

"Still not as deep as the one I dug with Weiss." Jaune said.

" **You desecrate the house of God!" a familiar, overweight priest cried from deeper within the building. Jaune looked around and saw what she had done: led him straight into a church. And he fell for it hook, line, and sucker.**

" **Oh. Oops." He said, making Yang chuckle. As a group of priests gathered around to force him out, he hissed at Yang, "Tell me your name, woman."**

" **And what would you do with my name, Sir Hunter?" she asked. "Call me a fox, for that is all I am to you."**

" **A fox!" he said, taking the win for what it was worth, "Well, then a fox you shall be until I find your name, my foxy lady!" he quickly turned his horse around and politely hurried out of the church, leaving Yang and Blake giggling as Bishop Port walked up next to them.**

" **If nothing else, he is a handsome hunter, I'll give him that." Yang said.**

" **Does this not shock you, ladies?" Port said angrily, turning to them.**

" **Certainly, my lord." Yang said diplomatically, "I just- I only laugh, just to keep from weeping."**

" **Ah." Port said his face softening. "Beauty is such a curse. Pray your years come swiftly. Pray your beauty fades, that you may better serve God."**

" **Oh, and I do, my lord." Yang said, playing up her penitent act masterfully, "I pray for it all the time. Why, God, did you curse me with this face?"**

" **God's will has a purpose, but we may not know it." Port said, offering his hand for her to kiss his ring.**

 **Yang took it, but instead of kissing the ring, did a total 180 and mocked him. "Oh, that is lovely." She said, pretending to admire the ring. Port yanked back his hand, and walked away, chanting in a dead language, leaving both women to laugh.**

"Liking this movie more and more." Yang said. "And apparently, nothing can break-up this best friendship." She pointed at herself and Blake.

"Except for a cowardly cat." Blake sighed.

"Hey," Yang pulled her into a hug. "All is forgiven."

* * *

 **Alright, before you guys jump down my throat about Christianity not being a thing on Remnant, let me remind you that we know precisely two things about religion on Remnant: 1.) there are dozens of Gods, & 2.) only the Brothers Grimm are real. For all we know, a religion similar to the Three Big Monastic Religions probably exists in some form on Remnant. Maybe God is another name for the God of Light, while the God of Darkness is represented my the Devil? We don't know, therefore, it is up to the writer(me) to fill in these blanks. And honestly, it just makes writing this a hell of a lot easier, since this time period is positively fueled by faith and religion.**

 **Also, I can confirm there will only be seven chapters of this movie, which allows me to finish in time for the one year anniversary! If any of you lovely people are artistically talented, it would be greatly appreciated if you wanted to create some cover art for this in celebration.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite and leave a Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 10/15/19**


	46. Chapter 46- A Knight's Tale, Part 3

**You know, I like when I'm at in my job right now. It's moderate-stress, my manager is chill and understanding, and overheating is not even a thing since we're the meat department, but the worst part is the inconsistent schedule. There's no such thing as getting a consistent day off, and my D &D fix is getting nearly untenable. I've even considered doing a fan-fic of it using team RWBY. I even have the dice, character sheets and pre-made adventures ready to go.**

 **I think I need help.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 46

 **Jaune charged his opponent, lance at the ready. His opponent did the same on the other side. Jaune was the only one to connect, destroying his lance on his opponent's shoulder, while avoiding being hit at all. Sun and Neptune cheered and ran to meet him as he tossed aside his lance and lifted his visor.**

" **Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein defeats Roger Lord Mortimer, one lance to none!" The Lord's herald called out.**

"How does that work?" Pyrrha asked, "The last time, it was three lances."

"Maybe that Mortimer guy got knocked out?" Nora suggested.

"Or he can't continue the fight due to injury?" Pyrrha guessed. "I hope they explain the rules at some point."

" **Easy, boys." Jaune said, hugging his friends, "They'll think it's the first time I've broken a lance."**

" **But it is Jaune, it is!" Neptune cheered.**

" **Well, Sir Ulrich has broken thousands of lances."**

" **Well, come on, Master of a thousand lances." Sun said, putting sarcasm into the title, "You're due in the sword ring in two minutes."**

" **Hey, my armor's loose."**

 **Outside, Sun and Neptune worked to tighten his armor around his frame by hammering it while he still wore it.**

 **Jaune worked his shoulder and groaned. "If they come overhead, I won't be able to block."**

" **There's nothing for it. We're overdue as it is." Sun said.**

" **It's a mistake to do two events." Jaune said. "I don't have time to breathe. I think I should withdraw from the sword."**

"He's right." Pyrrha said, "I used to do as many events as I could at tournaments, and it was exhausting."

"But you found a balance." Jaune said.

"Yeah, after my parents talked me out of doing events I wasn't as good at. It was more worry than anything, plus they also saw that I was better at one-on-one fighting than I was at other sports."

" **But, the sword is your best event." Neptune argued.**

" **But the prizes are bigger in the joust. The prestige too."**

" **Ulrich von Lichtenstein?" a man with orange hair covering one eye and a white fur coat said, stepping in front of Jaune.**

"It's ya boy!" Neo signed.

"And I'm not a disgusting slug thing this time." Roman sighed in relief.

" **Yes." Jaune said warily.**

" **I am Roman Torchwick." He introduced himself.**

" **And I'm overdue at the sword arena, so if you'll excuse me." Jaune said, moving around the man until his cane stopped him.**

" **I'm afraid I must detain you on behalf of your herald." He said with a grin.**

"Ren, what did you do?" Jaune said.

"How should I know?" Ren asked, seeing the grin on his brother's face and rolling with the joke.

" **You were never robbed, were you?" Jaune asked a once-again nude Ren. The trio were taken to a tent, where Ren was being kept, under guard by a small girl with heterochromatic eyes and matching pink and brown, back-length hair.**

" **Look, I have a gambling problem." Ren admitted. "I can't help myself. And these people, they'll…quite literally take the clothes off your back."**

" **And what do you expect us to do about it?" Jaune asked.**

" **He assured us that you, his liege, would pay us." Roman said, his little friend circling around Ren with a predatory grin.**

" **And who are you exactly? Both of you."**

" **Well, you know my name, and this little one is my protégé, Neo. We are but humble pardoners and purveyors of religious relics."**

"Here translated as con artists and thieves." Ruby said. when Roman said nothing back, she turned to look at him. "Nothing to say in your defense?"

Roman shrugged. "You're not wrong? We know who we are, and we're fine with that."

" **And how much does he owe you?"**

" **Ten gold lien." Roman said with a smile, checking his fingernails.**

 **Jaune's eyes bulged. Ten what? That was more wealth than he had seen in his entire life.**

 **Luckily, Neptune was able to say the words Jaune could not. "You manky git!" he said pulling Ren into a headlock. "What'd I say, huh? Pain! Lots of pain! Remember that?!" he said as he began punching Ren in the head. Sun eventually rolled his eyes and, with Jaune's help, pulled Neptune off the nude man. Jaune turned back to regard his 'herald'.**

" **What would you do to him if I refused?" he asked Roman, keeping eye contact with Ren.**

" **We, on behalf of the Lord God, would take it out of his flesh." At the word, Neo drew a thin rapier from her umbrella and ran the flat of it against Ren's back. "So that he may understand that gambling, is a sin." Jaune raised an eyebrow, stating the unspoken question.**

"Ice cream girl, you had best move that sword, or so help me…" Nora growled until Ren took her hand.

" **Oh, please, J-" he stopped himself just in time, and took a breath. "Please, just and kind lord, will you help me?" he begged. "I promise you won't regret it."**

" **I don't have the money." Jaune said. He noticed Neo's smile grow a bit wider and her blade drift a bit lower, to Ren's hips. "Release him." He said, surprising Neo and Ren, "God's sake, give him his clothes back, and you'll get it."**

 **Roman smiled. "Done." He said, snapping his fingers. Neo sheathed her sword and retrieved Ren's clothing.**

" **You lied." Jaune said, putting back on his head padding and helmet as he hurry-walked to the sword arena.**

" **Yes, yes, I lied." Ren admitted, pulling his shirt over his head as he walked beside Jaune. "I'm a writer. I give the truth scope. Behold, my lord Ulrich von Lichtenstein!" he called "Son of-"**

" **Too late." A man said as they neared the arena.**

" **What?"**

" **Too late, he's already been announced." The man told him.**

" **Ooo-kay."**

" **Sword." Jaune said, turning to Sun as he entered the small, square arena.**

"Alright, let's see what the literal knight version of me can do." Jaune said, leaning forward.

 **Sun handed it to him, and he immediately found use for it as his opponent came at him with a flurry of blows, each of which he blocked. They circled each other for a moment, before his opponent hit him with a one-two combo that threw him off balance, giving him a good shot at Jaune's back. The judge held up a flag indicating a point for the opponent.**

 **Jaune worked his shoulder, feeling it able to move a bit better, as his foe came at him again. He blocked more hits, but an overhand shot allowed him to land a second point.**

" **Two points for Sir Walter Loring. Sir Ulrich to strike!" the judge yelled over the cheering crowd.**

 **Jaune gave him the same one-two combo used to on him to gain his first point. He then used his frustration to land four more blows. The crowd cheered and Ren jumped the barrier to hold up Jaune's arm in victory. Then, he decided to make up for lost heralding.**

" **Yes! Behold, my lord Ulrich! The rock! The hard place! Like a wind from Mantle, he sweeps by! Blown far from his homeland in search of glory and honor! We walk in the garden of his turbulence!"**

"What?" Nora asked.

 **One could almost hear the crickets, not a single person understanding what they had just heard. At least until Sun stepped in.**

" **Yeah!" he yelled in a deep voice. Almost immediately after, the crowd began cheering again.**

"Thanks for the save, Sun." Jaune chuckled.

"Anytime, bud."

' **Taking Care of Business' by BTO began playing as a series of Jaune bouts began playing.**

 **He hit a knight in the gut, side-stepping the reprisal, landing another blow on his back, followed by a trick shot backhanded blow on the top of his head, and then another overhand headshot.**

 **On another knight, he struck seven times in the span of three seconds, not giving the man a single chance to think and sending him falling into the corner.**

 **In the lists, he continued to break lances on his opponents' chests and shoulders.**

 **Back in the sword ring, he laid out another foe with a series of body blows until the man finally just dropped his sword and held up his hand, begging Jaune to stop.**

"Gods, the music in this movie is fucking on point." Sun said.

"It is rather catchy." Winter admitted.

"Oh, come off it, Ice Queen, I see your foot tapping over there." Qrow taunted, ducking the drink that was throw at him. He stuck his tongue out at her, only to receive a face full of nachos.

" **You've done it!" Sun told him, hugging him in the ring, "You're champion!"**

" **Of the sword." Jaune reminded him.**

" **Well then, to the lists!"**

" **Do you wanna touch him?" Ren yelled out, whipping up the crowd,** _ **"Do you wanna touch him?!"**_

 **Jaune's horse whinnied as he charged his latest opponent, the crowd chanting his name. He landed a blow, his lance remaining intact, but so did his opponent, his lance breaking on Jaune's shoulder.**

 **Sun and Neptune physically winced, and ran to make sure their 'lord' was okay.**

" **We should have saved our last lien for the blacksmith." Jaune joked, examining the break in his armor.**

" **Look, I can't pay you now, but I promise I will, just as long as- " Jaune said to the black smith who held his breast plate.**

" **No! Money!" the smithy said, handing him the armor back. Jaune went to another.**

" **Excuse me."**

" **Cash only, no promises." He said. Jaune went to another.**

" **Don't bother." The blacksmith said before Jaune even asked, "Perhaps you should try the rose." He pointed to a familiar pale-skinned girl with red-tipped black hair working at a forge.**

"Aww, yeah." Ruby cheered, "And I'm doing what I love! I am perfectly happy with this role."

" **A woman?" Jaune said in disbelief.**

" **Beggars cannot be choosers, my lord." The man said, pulling a horseshoe from the coals.**

 **Seeing no other choice, Jaune decided to at least try and walked over to her.**

" **I don't work for free." The girl said before he could ask.**

" **And I can't joust in broken armor." He argued.**

" **Your problem, not mine." She said, "Each drop of this sweat has a price on it."**

"Yeesh, Crater Face, when did you get so stingy?" Jaune teased.

"Making weapons ain't cheap, Vomit Boy." Ruby replied.

 **Something about that struck a chord in Jaune and he came up with a plan on the spot. "Well, it's just as well, then. They told me I was daft for even asking." He said innocently as he walked away.**

 **Ruby looked up, stopping mid-hammer strike, "Who?"**

 **Jaune turned around, hiding his smile, while Sun and Neptune looked at him, confused. "Oh, the other armorers." He pointed over his shoulder.**

 **Ruby angrily stuck the metal she was working on in a tub of water, making the metal hiss. "Did they say I couldn't do it because I'm a woman?"**

" **Uh, no. They said you were great with horseshoes, but crap with armor. The fact you were a woman was never even mentioned." Sun heard this, and immediately turned around to hide his laughter, seeing what Jaune had done, while Neptune was still trying to work it out. Ruby threw her tools onto her work bench, marched up to him and took the breast plate from him.**

"Very clever." Roman muttered, "Playing to her ego instead of her gender. Even I couldn't do better."

 **A few hours later, Yang was watching the joust from the nobles box of the stands in a different dress, a veiled hat covering half her face and Blake sitting next to her. Knights constantly walked past her in full armor, promising to win the tournament for her. Such petty men, every one of them.**

" **My lady," a thin man in fine clothes and bearing a mohawk said, "May I present, Count Cardin Winchester, winner of the joust in Mistral and high champion at Argus."**

"Oh, Gods." Yang groaned, "Please tell me he isn't going to be Jaune's romantic rival for me."

"Sorry, but that's the way it looks." Blake said.

"I think I'm gonna puke."

 **Cardin walked up beside him. He was dressed in much finer clothes, all black, and his face was grinning as he looked her up and down, no doubt undressing her in his mind.**

" **All such moments forgotten," he said smoothly, "When standing before the most beautiful woman in Christendom." He bowed at the waist, making Yang roll her eyes at Blake.**

" **Do you only pretend to fight, Count Winchester, or do you wage real war as well?" she asked politely.**

 **Cardin leaned against a post in front of her, surprisingly maintaining eye-contact rather than staring at her chest as most men did. "Well, I am leader of the Free Companies." He said casually, "My army is currently in southern Vale, awaiting deployment."**

 **Jaune walked up in his newly repaired armor and saw Yang in the stands. "Ren, it's her." He told the raven-haired man as Sun and Neptune walked past, getting everything ready for Jaune's next bout.**

 **Ren looked where Jaune was looking and his eyes widened. "Jaune, I think you're aiming too high."**

" **Well, if there's another way to aim, I don't know it."**

" **Concentrate." Sun growled at him.**

" **What should I say to her?" Jaune asked Ren, ignoring Sun. Ren thought about it for a minute, then whispered into his friend's ear.**

"Please, Ren, give him something good." Yang begged, "Anything is better than talking with Dick-chester."

" **What do you think of the joust?" Cardin asked, keeping the conversation rolling.**

 **Yang rolled her eyes. The guy just wouldn't take a hint, and not in a good way. "It's very abrupt, and I'm afraid I don't understand the rules." She did, of course. She wasn't stupid. She had sat through more than enough tournaments in her time to figure the rules through simple observation, not that any man cared to hear that.**

"Oh, good. Rules explanation." Pyrrha said, sitting up.

 **Cardin smiled and took a seat next to her. "Then allow me to educate you. A match is three lances. One point is awarded for breaking a lance on a man between the waist and neck, two points for breaking on the helmet. It's difficult, the helmet sweeps back, so most blows glance off, leaving the lance whole. But it can be done, with enough skill. Finally, three points for knocking a rider from his horse. Additionally, should you unseat your foe, you win his horse."**

" **And do men die in the joust?" Yang asked, playing up her feigned interest.**

" **The lances are tipped with coronals, thereby blunting them." Cardin explained. "Of course, accidents happen. I myself, Yang, have never been unhorsed."**

" **Nor have I." Yang joked, and she smiled when Cardin's confusion showed through.**

"So, how did he beat that Mortimer guy?" Nora asked.

"Well, he didn't unhorse him, so I think our injury theory is the best answer." Pyrrha said, "I can't remember how many opponents I've had forfeit because they did something stupid and injured themselves before we could fight."

" **You name, lady." Jaune said as he rode up in full armor, save for his helm, "I still need to hear it."**

 **Yang chuckled. Now this was an enjoyable kind of persistence. "Sir Hunter, you are stubborn, aren't you?"**

" **Perhaps." Jaune shrugged, "Or perhaps angels have no names, only beautiful faces."**

 **Cardin grew quite annoyed when he saw the genuine smile on Yang's face. "And you are?" he asked.**

" **Well, I am, um…"**

" **Have you forgotten? Or perhaps your name is Sir Um." Those around him chuckled at his cruel joke.**

"Wow, still a dick." Coco commented.

"Some things are just universal, I guess." Velvet grumbled.

 **Jaune frowned. "I am Ulrich von Lichtenstein from Mantle."**

" **Well, I'd forget as well. What a mouthful. And your armor, sir."**

" **What about it?"**

" **How stylish of you to joust in an antique. You'll start a new fashion if you win. My grandfather will be able to wear his in public again." More laughter. "And a shield. How quaint." He smiled when Jaune rode off angrily, the humiliated man's only solace being a complete lack of laughter from Yang. "Some of these poor country knights, I swear. Little better than peasants."**

" **Second son of Sir Wallace Percival, third Earl of Warrick." A brown-haired, mustachioed herald announced, "My lords, my ladies, it is with honor I introduce my liege, Sir Thomas Colville." He gestured to a knight in fine grey plate armor riding a white horse.**

'Klein?' Weiss thought, looking back to her sister, who nodded with a frown on her face. 'The hell?'

" **Ha ha, you're good." Ren said, taking the man's place. "You're very good. My lords, my ladies," he bowed to the nobles, "And everybody else here NOT sitting on a cushion!" he addressed the masses, eliciting even greater cheers. "Today, you find yourselves equals!" murmurs sprung up throughout the nobility and more cheers from the peasantry. "For you are all equally blessed. For I have the pride, the privilege, nay, the pleasure! Of introducing to you, a knight sired by knights. A knight who can trace his lineage back, beyond Ozma himself.**

" **I first met him atop a mountain, praying to God, asking his forgiveness for the Mistrali blood spilt by his sword. Next, he amazed me still further, in Menagerie, when he saved a fatherless Faunus beauty from the would-be ravishings of her dreadful Vacuan uncle." The crowd cheered for Jaune and booed the would-be rapist. Ren shivered for emphasis, "In Mistral, he spent a year in silence, just to better understand the sound of a whisper.**

 **Seeing he had them, he brought it all home, "And so, without further gilding the lily, and no more ado, I give to you, the Seeker of Serenity, the Protector of Faunus Virginity, the Enforcer of Our Lord God, the one, the only, Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein!" the crowds cheered and stamped their feet, while the nobles clapped with barely contained enthusiasm, led by Yang. "Thank you! Thank you! I'll be here all week!" Ren said, running over to his 'lord'.**

" **Well, that was different." Sun commented.**

"Accurate." Weiss said.

"Damn, Ren, I didn't know you had it in you." Coco commented.

"Hell yeah, Ren's a great speaker." Jaune said, "When he wants to be."

"Gave me pro-wrestling vibes." Yang said.

"If you're going to help someone make a name, you gotta build the hype first." Ren explained. "Work the crowd, and you control pretty much everything."

" **Well, it's about time we celebrated our differences." Ren said, ignoring the holes Neptune was glaring into his face.**

" **Just maybe not in public."**

" **Yeah." Neptune agreed.**

" **Yes, yes, I know, Master Neptune." Ren drawled, "A good fonging, right?"**

" **Oh yeah. Oh yeah."**

 **Jaune climbed up onto his horse, and took the helm from Sun. "Alright, I've won their attention. Now you go out and win their hearts." Ren said.**

 **The two knights charged each other, breaking their lances on each other's shoulders, Cardin, Yang and their attendants watching and analyzing them the whole time.**

" **Very good." Ren commented as Jaune came around for the next go.**

" **Did she see me?" he asked eagerly.**

" **Yeah, course she saw you."**

" **Did she see me take the hit?"**

" **Yeah, she saw you take the hit."**

" **Did she seem upset at all?"**

" **It was dreadful. Her eyes welled up. Tears stained her face. Very unattractive."**

"That's actually a really common myth." Ren said.

"What is?" Sun asked.

"The myth about women crying." Ren explained, "Media constantly portrays a crying woman as something beautiful or pretty, when it is anything but. The wails, the moans, the running make-up. It's actually quite horrible, really."

Hearing all of this, Mercury kept an eye on the women in the room. When none of them reacted, he was dumbfounded. "Really?" he asked, "None of you are gonna call that?"

"He's not wrong." He was shocked to hear Cinder admit.

"Except for you, ma'am." Emerald said quickly, "You look great no matter what."

Neo tugged on Roman's coat. He looked to her and saw her making peace signs. Then, she made them meet in between the fingers and ground them together.

Roman bust out laughing. "Oh, yeah. Absolutely."

 **After the second pass, Cardin spoke up.**

" **Colville has perfect technique." He stated. "I've never seen him before.**

" **Nor I." Russel agreed. "But this Lichtenstein… His technique is rudimentary. Style, nonexistent. But he is fearless."**

" **Fearless? How so?" Yang asked.**

" **The slit in a helmet's visor is narrow, but splinters can penetrate it." Cardin explained, "Most knights raise their chins at the last moment. You lose sight of your opponent, but you protect your eyes. This Sir Ulrich does not."**

 **Yang smiled in understanding. "He keeps his eye on the target. A true hunter." She whispered the last to Blake, who grinned.**

 **As Jaune and Sir Colville passed each other in the lists, Colville motioned for him to stop. He opened part of his visor, revealing a single blue eye and pale skin.**

"No fucking way." Weiss whispered to herself.

"Something up, Weiss?" Ruby asked around a cookie.

"Nothing, now eat your way to diabetes."

" **Sir Ulrich." He said, his voice pained, "I'm through. But, um, I've never not finished before. I wish to keep my honor intact."**

 **Jaune nodded his agreement, knowing what would come next. On the next pass, both men prepared to charge, but instead trotted across the field, saluting each other as they passed. As they did, Colville's herald hung a white flag over his lord's shield.**

" **A draw." Russel said in surprise, "And Colville is hurt." He pointed out when he saw Colville struggling to stay on his horse, so much so that his squires were practically holding him up.**

" **Colville withdraws." Cardin said, a little frustrated. "Ulrich advances. Why not finish him?"**

" **He shows mercy." Yang said.**

 **Cardin scoffed, "Then he shows his weakness. That's all mercy is."**

"It's a competition." Jaune growled, "Not combat, asshat."

* * *

 **And, scenes.**

 **This chapter was kinda fun to write, especially the reactions. Not a lot to say here at the end.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite and leave a Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 10/22/19**


	47. Chapter 47- A KNight's Tale, Part 4

**Not much to say. On with the show.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 47

"So, I'm guessing that this Cardin isn't exactly the kindest of people." Summer said, talking to the parents.

"I'm not rightly sure." Taiyang said, rubbing his chin, "Ruby mentioned him in letters, but never went into any details."

"I think Blake's friend may have mentioned him." Kali piped in, "He was described as a bully and a racist, at least until he had a run-in with Mr. Arc on a field trip. Of course, he does have something of a tendency toward hyperbole."

 **That night, Jaune was completely unable to sleep. All his thoughts were with the beauty he had met that day.**

 **Sun groaned as he sighed again. "For Victory's sake, Jaune go the hell to sleep."**

" **I can't." Jaune said, lying on his back, "Love has given me wings, so I must fly. I can't explain it; she makes me feel like a poet."**

" **Well, you may feel like a poet, but you sound like an idiot." Sun said. Neptune's feet moved between their heads, showing his agitation. "You don't even know her name."**

" **Her name? Her name… is Aphrodite." He said, calling upon one of the Classical goddesses of love, "Calypso. Venus. Take you pick." Neptune babbled loudly.**

"Aphrodite and Venus are the same thing." Velvet said, "Some ancient religions weren't terribly creative."

 **Sun rolled over and propped himself up on one arm, looking at Jaune. "Women weaken the heart." He told him. Jaune craned his neck back to look at him. "Without your heart, you can't win." He laid back down.**

" **Oh, but her eyes- "**

" **Concentrate."**

" **Tansy cakes!" Neptune said, sitting upright and holding a small knife. "Where?" he asked, half-asleep.**

" **Count Winchester sends word." Blake told Yang in her chambers, "He says he will win this tournament for you."**

" **He has won many tournaments." Yang scoffed, "He wins them for himself and for his own honor, so it's nothing to say he wins them for me."**

" **He wishes to speak to you again."**

" **Not to hear a word I say." Yang sighed, "Winchester wants his women silent. And loose more likely than not."**

"Why doesn't this me just shove her fist up his ass and use him as a puppet?" Yang said, "We sure do think alike, so why not?"

"It wouldn't be proper." Velvet reminded, "Different times, Yang."

"I take it Yang hasn't had many boyfriends?" Summer asked, shocked by her eldest's choice of words.

 **A thought occurred to Blake and a playful smile spread over he face. "Would you have Sir Ulrich win this tournament for you, then?"**

" **No." Yang said faster than she meant to. She saw Blake's smile and spoke plainly, "And he is the only knight that has not promised to do so. Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein. I would have him win my heart." She smiled at the thought, and dismissed it a moment later as impossible. Such a man was rare indeed, and she did not yet know for certain if Ulrich was such a man.**

 **The next day, the lists chanted Cardin's name as he was led onto the field by his Russel, his herald, apparently. He and his black horse were covered in black plate armor.**

" **Oh, lovely." Neptune said sarcastically.**

" **Count Winchester," Jaune said to Sun, "I don't think I've ever seen him lose."**

" **No, but defeat him, and you'll see it first hand." Sun said as he tightened a few of the straps on Jaune's armor.**

" **My liege." Ren said, walking up with Blake beside him. When Jaune didn't respond, he tapped on Jaune's breastplate. "Sir Ulrich, Blake Belladonna."**

" **My lady bids you wear this token." She said, handing him a silk cloth with Yang's burning heart symbol on it.**

"Oh, this. Great." Pyrrha rolled her eyes.

Jaune looked at her. "You never, you know…"

"No, thankfully that was not a thing in my tournament days." She sighed, "It's just one of those romantic tropes in movies I can't stand."

" **Of course." Jaune said, eagerly and gingerly taking the cloth from her.**

" **She also said to tell you, her name is Yang." Blake spared a small glance at Sun before she left, leaving both men stunned silent for different reasons.**

 **Ren reached out and closed Sun's open mouth, the clicking of his teeth snapping him back.**

" **Concentrate." Sun growled, more at himself than at Jaune.**

 **The two men readied themselves for the bout, Jaune having stowed Yang's token under his armor for luck. The stared each other down, waiting for the flag to lift. When it did, they charged each other, lances at the ready. They met and broke their lances on each other's chests.**

" **I can't breathe." Jaune said as his horse was brought back to the start and Sun took the broken lance.**

 **Cardin was doing no better as Russel pulled a blood-stained spike from under his shoulder. "No style whatsoever." He panted, throwing the bloodied wood to the ground. "Neither has an anvil."**

"Hah! I'll take it." Jaune said.

"Power can easily make-up for a lack of style." Pyrrha admitted, "So long as technique is present."

"My technique will get better with practice, as you well know."

Yang looked at them, the joke just waiting to be made. 'Too easy.'

 **Jaune groaned as he could feel air filling his lungs. "Good Lord, he hits like a hammer, it's amazing."**

" **But not perfect." Sun said. He had been watching the bout, analyzing Cardin's technique to come up with a counter. "He aims high on your chest. Roll your shoulder back when you strike. His blow may glance to your right." So long as the blow didn't make the lance break, it was a strategic win.**

" **Yeah, if he strikes me on the right, but if he strikes my left I'll be obliterated."**

" **Well, I didn't say it wasn't a gamble." Sun said.**

 **On the next pass, Jaune did just as Sun said, and it paid off perfectly. Jaune's lance exploded on Cardin's chest, while Cardin's remained intact. Sun and Neptune cheered along with the crowd, even Yang joined in and Ruby watched with a small smile.**

 **Neptune blew a raspberry at Cardin as he and Sun ran to bring Jaune back to the start. Cardin looked up and saw his unbroken, fist-tipped lance, the scorekeeper awarding a point to Jaune and the crowd cheering his name, or at least his assumed one. His face darkened as he threw his visor back into place.**

"I think you just pissed him off." Yang said.

"Did you just-?" Ruby said.

"Yes. Yes I did." Yang said without shame.

 **Jaune readied himself for the final bout, putting his visor back in place and taking a lance from Neptune. Then he noticed that Cardin was not at his point, and the flag bearer was ready to start the match. Had he given-**

 **His musings were interrupted when Cardin came charging around the corner into the arena. He was trying to gain extra momentum for his last charge, looking for any advantage possible. The flag bearer, knowing what was best for him, started the match immediately. Not having any other option, Jaune kicked his horse into as high a gear as it could go and charged, Yang's favor flapping out behind his armor like a small yellow cape.**

 **The men met, and lances broke, Jaune's upon Cardin's chest and Cardin's upon Jaune's head. He hit with such force that Jaune's helm was ripped from his head. Jaune's vision went white and a memory played before him.**

 **A young blonde boy with long hair ran to a cheering crowd, looking for a way in.**

" **Jaune! Jaune!" he heard his father call from within the crowd. He managed to find a break in the crowd and forced his way to his father, who was standing near a stockade. He was a bear of a man, six feet tall with broad shoulders, brown hair and green eyes. "Jaune! Over here!" Jaune ran up to him, and Joseph lifted him up onto the stockade so he could see the procession of knights that were to compete soon.**

"Papa Arc!" Nora cheered.

"That's your dad?!" Yang exclaimed. "I call B.S."

"No, that's really my dad." Jaune said.

Ruby squinted and looked right at him. "I mean, hair and eyes aside, I can kinda see it."

"He takes more after his mom." Ren said.

Jaune saw the confused looks on Team RWBY's faces. "Ren and Nora stayed with my family after Beacon until we left for Patch." He explained.

"So, how do they not know your sisters?" Weiss asked.

"Mom said they were vacationing in Vacuo at the time of the festival, and couldn't get a flight back home."

 **Jaune was amazed by all the different men in polished armor, riding mighty steeds, their squires proudly holding their lord's banners aloft.**

" **Someday, I'll be a knight." He declared.**

 **The prisoner in the stocks beneath him scoffed. "A thatcher's son? A knight? You might as well try to change the stars." He chuckled.**

" **Can it be done, father?" Jaune asked, "Can a man change the stars?"**

 **Joseph looked him dead in the eye and smiled. "Yes, Jaune. If a man believes enough, he can do anything."**

 **His horse whinnying brought Jaune back from his reverie and he remembered the position he was in. His body slumped back and he dropped his lance, his mind focused solely on keeping himself on his horse. Sun and Neptune quickly ran to his side, ignoring his helm and lance, and the token Blake had given them laying on the ground. Recognizing it, Cardin circled around and picked it up with the tip of his broken lance.**

 **He walked up to Jaune with a smug grin. "Gain more bearing Ulrich. See me again when you're worthy." Jaune glared at him, but didn't have the strength to do much else. Neptune on the other hand, had no such impediment. He ran after Cardin, growling threats at him and prepared to jump over the dividing fence until Ren pushed him off.**

" **Well done, my lord. Well done." he said, clapping.**

" **What the hell, man?!" Neptune yelled, pulling himself up.**

"What he said." Neptune growled.

"Easy there buddy." Sun said, trying to calm his partner, "Just a movie, remember?"

"Still."

" **Go and see to Ulrich." Ren said calmly, pointing to Jaune and glaring at Neptune,** _ **Let me handle this**_ **, his eyes saying. As Neptune returned to his 'lord', Ren continued the act.**

 **Cardin walked up alongside the noble seats, stopping in front of Yang and Blake. "My Lady, I believe this is yours." He said, holding out Yang's token. She took it with a glare and calmly walked off, Blake quick behind her.**

 **Half an hour later, Jaune stood next to Cardin on the field as the prizes were handed out.**

"Hold up!" Pyrrha said, annoyed.

"What's up P-Money?" Yang asked.

"Their match was a draw."

Jaune was confused. "Was it?"

"According to the rules we got from Cardin." She said, "The first lance gave each man one point. The second lance brought the score to 2-1, in favor of Jaune. On the third lance, Jaune scored one point, while Cardin scored two, making the match a 3-3 tie."

"Huh."

"Plot convenience." Blake explained. Not the best answer, but a common one from a literary stand-point.

" **For the long spear on foot, Pandolfo Malatesta." A herald proclaimed. A short-haired blonde knight stepped forward and was handed a small gold chest by a noble lady.**

" **For sword on foot, Ulrich von Lichtenstein." The crowd cheered loudly as Jaune stepped forward and was handed a golden statue of a man on horseback.**

" **And finally, for the mounted joust and tournament champion, Cardin Winchester, Count of Anjou." Cardin stepped forward with a smug grin as the crowd cheered and chanted his name, and took a golden crown of leaves.**

" **Next time I face you, Count Winchester," Jaune said as the champions waved to the crowd of nobles, "You will look up at me from the flat of your back."**

" **Please," Cardin scoffed, "You have been weighed, you have been measured, and you have been found wanting.**

 **Jaune turned and walked back to his friends, who showered him with congratulations.**

" **Keep winning the sword and we'll be rich." Sun said with a laugh.**

" **I won't compete in the sword again." Jaune said.**

" **But it's your best event." Ren protested.**

" **No, it's tournament champion or nothing at all."**

"And now he's letting his ego think for him." Jaune groaned.

"It's a good move." Pyrrha argued. "If you focus on one event, you'll get better and better at it."

"And from the performance we've seen, you're already pretty good." Ren said.

 **Later that day, their company was visited by Roman and Neo. Jaune used a hatchet to break off the rider portion of his statue and handed it to Roman, who gave it to Neo. "There, ten gold lien. That should do."**

" **It's sixes and sevens tonight, Ren." Roman said with a grin, "You feeling lucky? Do you even have enough clothes?" Neo put her finger to her chin and grinned as she looked Ren up and down, undressing him in her mind.**

" **Go on, I'm done with you." Ren said, but as the pair turned to leave, he added, "Except to exact my revenge."**

" **And what could you possibly do to us?" Roman asked indulgently.**

" **I will eviscerate you in fiction." Ren said, speaking the truth, "Every last pimple, every last character flaw. I was naked for a day. You two will be naked forever."**

'Oh, that is good.' Blake thought, writing that line down. Maybe she would use that in her next attempt at writing.

 **Neo laughed silently, while Roman glared at the raven-haired Mistrali. "Something tells me we'll see you again someday. Roman said, before leading Neo away.**

" **Here, Rose, take what we owe you." Jaune said, handing Ruby the remainder of the trophy.**

" **The armor you wear," Ruby said, "It wasn't made for you, was it?"**

" **And what if it's not?" Jaune said with a frown.**

 **Ruby's eyes lit up in hope. "I could make such armor, you wouldn't know you wore it."**

" **And how much would that cost me?"**

 **Ruby shrugged. "Just take me as far as Mistral City."**

" **We travel alone." Jaune said, not even considering the question. "Take your gold and go."**

"Now who's stingy, Vomit Boy?" Ruby said.

"You know, that's fair." Jaune admitted. "His reasoning makes sense until you see that Ruby is right about his armor. Even I wouldn't fight in that crap."

"But it's too big of a risk." Sun said. "The more people know the secret, the high the probability it gets out."

 **Ruby's face darkened in a frown. She hit the statue against a piece of Jaune's armor, knocking off the head and tossed the remainder to him. Jaune sighed as she left. He didn't like talking to someone like that, but he couldn't take any more risks, not after what happened with Ren.**

" **Get what you can out of that." He said, tossing the broken statue to Sun. "The rest of us will pack up camp."**

" **Why are we leaving so soon?" Neptune asked.**

" **The tournament at Higanbana starts in a week." Jaune said as he began packing the wagon, "If we leave now, we can walk most of the way there and save the horse."**

" **No, you have to go to the banquet tonight." Ren said, taking out the saddle Jaune had just loaded into the wagon. "You have to dance, you have to make an appearance."**

" **Oh, and have Cardin laugh at me again? No."**

" **Yes."**

" **No."**

" **Yes!"**

" **NO!"**

"What are you guys? Ten?" Nora teased.

"Or married." Tai added, earning him a slap to the shoulder from Summer.

 **Sun coughed. "My lord?" Jaune turned to see Blake standing before him.**

 **Blake smiled to contain her laughter. "My lady would know the color of your lord's tunic tonight."**

" **His tunic?" Sun asked, confused.**

" **Yes." Blake said, sensing the confusion, "So that she can dress to match him."**

" **Er, we regret to inform your lady that we won't actually be attending- "**

" **Herald, do not answer questions you do not know the answer to." Jaune said, quickly shutting Ren up.**

" **Absolutely, my lord." Ren said, hiding his smile at having gotten his way.**

" **Squire, answer her. What, uh, color is my tunic tonight?"**

Neptune chuckled. "This'll be good."

"C'mon me, think fast." Sun muttered.

 **Sun's mind raced. Not only did he hate being put on the spot like this, but it was in front of a woman who was hotter than any woman he had ever seen before. And she was a Faunus! Can you say bonus points? He looked behind Blake, saw the tent they had been using and a plan immediately came to him. "Uh, green. Um, trimmed in a kind of… pale green. With, uh, wooden toggles."**

"Okay, that's actually quite clever." Weiss admitted.

"Assuming he can actually do it." Sun said. "I don't know about this other me, but I'm hopeless with a needle and thread."

"Given your choice of profession, and where you come from, your fashion sense suddenly make a lot more sense." Coco said.

" **I will tell my lady." Blake assured them before curtsying and leaving.**

" **Oh my God, this is a disaster!" Jaune groaned when she was out of ear-shot.**

" **Nah, it'll make for a fine tunic." Sun assured him, taking Neptune's dagger from his belt.**

" **No, no, it's not that." Jaune said. His friends looked to him. "I don't know how to dance."**

"Well," Jaune said, everyone looking at him, "That's different."

* * *

 **Yeah, there really isn't a lot for me to talk about. Not much has happened this past week, other than me hitting Chapter 5 in Wolves of Remnant and finally unveiling my idea of the Arc family, which I am carrying over into here, as well as any other fics I write in the future. Only other thing worth mentioning is that there will be a special Halloween chapter that I have been saving for a while now. No spoilers.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite and Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 10/29/19**


	48. Chapter 48- A Knight's Tale, Part 5

**Before we begin, I just want to say thank you, to all of you. This past week, we reached something I never considered possible when I started this almost a year ago. This story has now reached over 1,000 followers in under a year.  
**

 **Just, just read the stupid chapter while I go try and process this.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 48

 **Later that day, the quartet were in the stables, Sun sitting on a barrel as he made Jaune's tunic while Ren was using Neptune to help teach Jaune how to dance, keeping cadence with a wooden staff he was hitting on another barrel.**

" **And one, and two, and three, and four," he said, calling out the beats, "And your hands should alight, like a birdie on a branch." He slapped their hands apart for failing. "And one, and two, and three, and four, and Nep doesn't lead, he follows like a girl." Sun looked up from his work. Neptune looked at him, then to Jaune, who shrugged, then back to Ren who he punched in the face.**

"Neptune, I think we're even from earlier." Ren said.

"Agreed." Neptune said with a grin.

" **Aaaand one, and two," Ren began again, the staff behind his head holding up his arms and a piece of cloth stuck up one nostril. It was later that day, just before dusk, and the boys were still at it. Jaune and Neptune were still failing miserably to try and dance with Ren leading them, while Sun was having much more success in sewing a tunic together from scratch.**

" **And you're still getting it wrong." Ren prodded Neptune as he and Jaune argued about who was actually wrong. "You can hit me all day, cuz punch like a what?"**

" **A girl!" Sun said.**

" **Alright that is it!" Neptune yelled before everyone started arguing again. It only stopped when they noticed Ruby approaching them.**

" **Wow." She said with a laugh.**

" **Oh, and you can do better, can you?" Ren said.**

" **Yup." Ruby said confidently.**

"No, no I cannot!" Ruby said, horrified, "What is this me doing? I can't dance to save my life!"

"And I can dance, yet this other version of me can't." Jaune said, trying to calm her down, "Maybe this is just some bizzaro-type deal."

"It is only a movie after all." Weiss said.

" **Good, why don't you show us then?" Jaune said, almost pleaded.**

" **No." said with a vindictive smile.**

" **No." Jaune said in defeat.**

" **Hey, if I'm going to all this trouble, you had best learn to dance." Sun said, "Alright? Ask her properly."**

 **Jaune sighed and nodded. "I'm sorry, Ruby. I was wondering if you would care to show us how to dance."**

" **Please." Sun reminded him.**

" **Please." Jaune and Neptune repeated.**

" **You know my price." Ruby said with a smug smile.**

 **A half hour later, Ruby had the three men dancing like they had been doing it their whole lives. Sun had finished his work on Jaune's tunic and was looking it over for any last-minute touches.**

"Wow, well done Rubes." Jaune said, impressed.

"What the hell kind of dancing is that anyway." Yang asked.

"Old-timey?" Coco suggested.

"More like the kind that fell out of style centuries ago." Velvet corrected.

" **You're not gonna wear your hair like that, are ya?" Ruby asked as they continued practicing.**

" **Is there another way?" Jaune asked genuinely, making her laugh.**

 **That night, a servant led Jaune into a massive feasting hall filled with people and food. Soon enough, he ran into Yang, who was wearing a lime green dress that complimented her hair, which was done up in a wild fashion.**

" **Sir Ulrich," She smiled, "You look fantastic."**

"Alright, Lover Boy, let's see what you got." Yang said, kicking up her feet and putting her hands behind her head.

 **Jaune took a seat next to her. "Yang, you look… you, uh… you remind me of the Bible." Yang's smile fell a little into confusion. "When God stopped the sun in the sky at Gibeon to give Joshua more time to defeat the Amorites."**

"Starting off strong, I see."

"Did you expect anything less?"

"Fair enough."

 **Yang chuckled. "I don't understand."**

" **Neither do I half the time, honestly." Jaune laughed with her. "But, if I could ask God one thing, it would be to stop the moon. Stop the moon and make this night, and your beauty, last forever."**

Yang blinked owlishly. "Okay, that was a good one."

" **So, what dance will you have? A courante? Or a basse dance?" a man asked the assembled guests after they had eaten.**

" **Sir Ulrich." Cardin called from the back, "Why don't you show us all a dance of your country? Show us a dance of Mantle." The audience muttered in agreement, putting him on the spot.**

"Typical Cardin." Jaune grumbled. "Takes his shots anytime he can."

"Anyone even know what he's up to?" Ruby asked. "I don't even remember seeing him when everything went down at the Festival."

"You wouldn't since you went after Torchwick." Weiss said, "Though I'm not much better. All I know is that he wasn't at Beacon."

"According to General Ironwood, Team CRDL was in Vale at the time, and aided in the defense against the Grimm and our rogue troops." Winter explained.

"You mean your psycho AI that almost killed us." Sun corrected.

Winter's eye twitched. The boy wasn't wrong.

" **Uh, well, it's, it's a lot like the farandole, but with some differences." He thought fast as he could. 'Improvise, Jaune.' He thought to himself, 'It's gotten you this far. Hopefully nobody here has actually been to Mantle.'**

" **So, uh, first, you'll want to bow." He bowed deeply, and the audience mimicked him. He returned and stepped forward, crossing his left arm over his stomach, then took another and did the same with his right. The audience started laughing at him when he repeated the motions. Thankfully Yang stepped in and saved him, somehow realizing he was basically winging everything. Their bluff held, and soon all the dancers were joining in, the dance evolving the longer it went on. Jaune grinned as he and Yang began dancing with each other alone, rather than with other partners or as a group and he grinned even wider when he saw the look of disappointment on Cardin's face at his plan failing spectacularly.**

Jaune grinned. 'Suck it asshole.'

"Kinda reminds you of the Beacon Ball, doesn't it?" Coco said.

"All I remember about the ball is that amazing little number JNPR did." Velvet laughed.

"I still call bullshit that that was completely spontaneous." Neptune said.

 **While Jaune danced, and the boys slept, Ruby was busy working on a new suit of armor for Jaune. She worked through the night, finishing up with just enough time to catch an hour's worth of sleep before she met with the knight and his company.**

 **The armor was minimalist at first glance, a breast plate, pauldrons, plating for his upper and lower arms, elbows, and faulds. Jaune moved around in it, testing it out, while Sun, Ren and Neptune remained silent.**

"Nicely done, Ms. Rose." Glynda said.

"Hard to believe she made that all in one night." Ren commented.

"I'm just that good." Ruby preened.

"Ruby, Crescent Rose took you a month to make." Yang said.

"Well, yeah, but only because she's a complex mecha-shift weapon." Ruby countered. "If I made her a static scythe-rifle combo that didn't compact, it would have taken me a week, two tops. If it was only one of those, I could hammer it out in 24 hours easy. A half-suit of armor in one night is a cake-walk compared to all that."

" **What?" Ruby said, annoyed by the silence broken only by creaking armor plates.**

" **Uh… I don't know. It's too small." Jaune said, trying to be honest. "Too light."**

" **He'll be crushed. Killed." Neptune said.**

"Lighter armor is easier to move around in. Quieter too." Ruby defended.

"At the cost of actual protection." Jaune added, "One good hit and you're toast."

"Only _if_ I get hit."

" **No, he won't." Ruby said with a sigh, "This guy by the name of Ironwood showed me a new way to heat the steel. It's thinner and smaller, yes, but just as strong."**

" **What's this?" Sun said, pointing to an engraving on the back of the gorget in the shape of a stylized rose.**

" **The mark of my trade. Should another knight admire the armor." The boys chuckled at her. Ruby rolled her eyes. "Twist, bend. Feel the movement."**

" **Well, I…" Jaune said, trying it out. It was far easier to move in, no doubts there, but the fact it felt so light worried him. "But eventually I will be struck."**

" **And then death." Neptune persisted.**

 **Ruby sighed. "Do you at least have the courage to test it?"**

 **A few minutes later, Ruby and Sun ran at Jaune, pushing a wooden beam at him like a battering ram, while Jaune stood there and took the hit. Upon impact, Jaune was thrown backwards into a pile of straw-filled bags.**

" **Are you alright, Jaune?" Sun asked, running up to him.**

 **Jaune got into a sitting position and laughed. "I didn't feel a thing!"**

"Apologies may be delivered in the form of cookies or weapon mods. Or both." Ruby joked.

 **Tournament grounds**

 **Higanbana**

 **One week later**

 **The other knights openly laughed at Jaune as he walked through the tournament grounds to the jousting arena in his new armor. Jaune weathered it all with a sarcastic smile on his face. Their laughter was soon cut short when Jaune mounted his horse without assistance. Jaune looked back at them with a smug grin before looking across the field to his opponent, who was struggling just to get into the saddle.**

" **What's the name of that knight?" he asked Sun.**

" **Piers Courtenay." Sun told him, "He's raised the taxes on his land three times this year to pay for tournament."**

" **His people starve while he sits at banquet." Neptune said as he handed Jaune his helm, adding fuel to the fire of Jaune's righteous indignation. He then leaned under the horse's neck. "It's probably true." He whispered to Sun, who winked at him knowingly.**

Sun and Neptune just high-fived each other.

 **The flag lifted and the knights charged at each other, Sun and Neptune egging on Jaune's horse. They neared each other, lances lowered. Yang watched from the noble crowd as Jaune broke his lance on Courtenay's shoulder without allowing his foe to land a blow. The impact was so great that Courtenay's horse reared back and fell into the dividing fence. The crowd cheered at the one-hit finish, chanting Jaune's alias.**

" **Ulrich von Lichtenstein." Yang said, impressed with his performance.**

" **My lord, the Count Winchester," Russel said, announcing Cardin, "Son of Sir John the Hammer, son Gilles… uh…" he stumbled as a flash of light crossed over his face, "Master of the Free Companies," the light flashed over his face multiple times as Ren reflected the sun off a small gold plate he had found, intentionally messing him up, "Defender of his… enormous manhood. A shining example of chivalry and… champagne." He bowed gracefully, and the crowd clapped, the women in the crowd cackling at him.**

"Knew there was a reason I liked you, Ren." Jaune joked to his brother.

"Anything for the team." Ren said, "Besides, I never did much care for Russel anyway."

" **Watch every move he makes." Sun said as the other herald introduced Cardin's opponent. "If there's a weakness, we'll find it."**

" **Well, Colville looks fit." Jaune commented, "This should be good, at any rate."**

 **What they didn't notice was Russel talking to a man in finery, then looking to Colville in what appeared to be horror. He sent a man back over to Cardin, who listened to him. He then nodded to Russel, who quickly rolled out a white flag and placed it over Cardin's shield, making the crowd boo.**

 **Shocked, Jaune and company went under the beam they were leaning on to get a better look.**

" **Cardin withdrew." Jaune said.**

" **A withdrawal like that can only mean one thing." Sun said.**

" **Royalty." Neptune said, looking to Colville, who saluted Cardin before allowing his horse to be led out of the arena.**

"Oh, no, no, no." Weiss said in horror.

"Weiss, what is – "Weiss shut Ruby up by shoving a jumbo-sized cookie into her mouth.

" **I'll see what I can find out." Ren said, walking off.**

 **A few minutes later, the shields were being changed, putting Jaune's in place of Cardin's, and a herald was readying for the start. However, Ren was pleading with him to wait.**

" **Please, wait. I must speak with my lord." He said.**

" **Then go." The herald said sharply. As Ren ran over to Jaune, he added, "And see if you can beat the Second Coming, huh?"**

"The what?" Yang asked.

"The Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the Christian savior who died to wash away the sins of humans and Faunus alike." Ozcar explained, "According to scripture, he will reappear during the Apocalypse to lead the forces of Good in a final battle against the forces of Evil."

'Sound familiar Ozma?' Salem thought to herself as she ordered more food for herself.

"So, no offense to the people who practice this religion," Yang said, "But everything I've heard about it sounds pretty militant."

"Makes sense that it isn't a major religion then." Weiss said, "I mean, the amount of negativity it would cause is sure to draw in Grimm by the hundreds. I'm more surprised it's even still around."

" **Wait! Wait!" Ren yelled as he came up to Jaune, who was already set to compete. "Colville is Whitley Schnee, the White Prince of Attika, and future king of Vale." He panted.**

"What?!" the students said together, except for Weiss.

"Nooooo…." Weiss whined sinking into her chair.

" **Then he's in disguise like me so he can compete." Jaune reasoned, looking over to the man. Now that he thought about it, the portion of face he had seen was very spot-on for the near-legendary features of the royal family; pale skin, icy-blue eyes, he even remembered thinking that he had seen a wisp of snow-white hair.**

" **He has never met an enemy without victory, he has never attacked a town he could not defeat." Ren said.**

"Winter?" Weiss said.

"Sister?"

"Whitley can never be allowed to see this."

"Agreed."

"I don't know what you're on about." Jaune said, "That description just sounds like he can hold his own in combat and that he doesn't fight impossible battles. Strong and intelligent, the kind of qualities you want in a leader."

" **We're Valean, Ren, we know who he is." Neptune said.**

" **You have to withdraw." Sun said, "Ren, go tell them."**

 **Ren ran off to drop the flag, while Neptune struggled to get the lance from Jaune's hand. However, Jaune had other ideas, and kicked his horse into a gallop. Whitley saw this and smiled.**

" **Lance!" he yelled, closing up his helm. He took it and kicked his own white steed into a charge. Jaune's company watched in horror as the two ran at each other, their lances breaking upon the other's chest.**

" **The match is a draw!" the tournament herald called, waving a flag.**

" **Oh my God." Ren said as he dropped the white flag he had just unfurled. He met Jaune as he was crossing back over to his starting position. "Are you insane? You willingly endangered a member of the royal family!"**

"Velvet, explain." Coco said.

"What he did could be seen as treason and result in either a life imprisonment or death." Velvet explain, "It all really depends on Whitley."

" **He willingly endangers himself." Jaune said back as Whitley walked up.**

" **Well fought, Sir Ulrich, as it was in Shion." Whitley said, keeping his helm sealed up.**

" **And you also, Prince Whitley."**

 **Knowing the jig was up, Whitley took off his helm, revealing messy white hair, pale skin, and deep blue eyes. The crowd gasped, and the nobles muttered to each other.**

" **You knew me." He stated with a grin. Jaune nodded. "And still you rode?"**

" **It's not in me to withdraw." Jaune admitted.**

" **No, nor me. Though it happens."**

" **Yes, it does."**

 **Whitley smiled indulgently. "Good luck with the tournament."**

" **And you as well." The two saluted each other and walked off, Klein announcing Whitley's withdrawal.**

"So, not as bad as our brother." Weiss said, trying to wrap her mind around the concept.

"It's been a pattern with his appearances." Winter commented, "His first appearance was as a secondary character that was killed off. His second appearance had only a single line before he was killed. This is his first appearance that has any real importance."

"Perhaps Mr. Logan is trying to change your minds about him?" Penny posited, though Weiss looked unconvinced.

" **The winner of the mounted joust, and tournament champion, Ulrich von Lichtenstein." The tournament herald proclaimed, handing Jaune a golden horn. Jaune, who was currently dressed in padding and simple clothes, took it with a bow and walked off.**

" **Here," he handed the reward to sun, "Melt it, sell it, whatever you do."**

" **Yes, your majesty." Sun said with a grin.**

" **Come on, Jaune, smile. Your tournament champion!" Neptune said.**

" **Not until I defeat Cardin." Jaune said. "Cardin withdrew."**

"And there's the ego." Jaune said. "Can't I just take the win for what it is?"

Pyrrha coughed, remembering his behavior when she offered to train him.

" **Sir Ulrich." Yang said, catching up to him. Blake was not by her side, having stopped at the foot of the stairs and started talking with Sun. "I've come to see what you'll wear to banquet tonight."**

" **Nothing." Jaune replied. He was in no mood for things like banquets, and hoped she would get the hint. If she did, she chose to ignore it.**

" **Well then, we'll cause a sensation, for I'll dress to match." She said with a grin.**

" **Oh, don't you ever get tired of putting on clothes?" Jaune said, dropping any pretense at politeness.**

" **Uh, I believe she's talking about taking them off, my lord." Ren whispered into his ear, only for Jaune to shove him away.**

" **Well, a flower is only as good as its petals, don't you agree?" Yang asked, a little hurt.**

" **A flower is good for nothing." Jaune said.**

" **Really?" Luckily, the rest of the companions saw where this was headed and stayed far back enough to be out of the inevitable blast wave, but still listen in.**

" **Well, you can't eat a flower. A flower doesn't keep you warm."**

" **And a rose never knocked a man off a horse, did it?"**

 **Jaune's frustration boiled over and got the better of him. "You're just a silly girl, aren't you?" Even Blake and Sun's conversation stopped at that.**

"Okay, see, this is the bit where you apologize." Yang said angrily.

 **Yang's face hardened and her smile disappeared. "Better a silly girl with a flower, than a silly boy with a horse and a stick." She said and walked off. Blake bowed to Sun and followed her, but not without looking back at him and smiling.**

" **It's called a lance! Hello?" Neptune said, trying to give Jaune the last word.**

 **Kuroyuri**

 **Two weeks later**

 **Jaune charged his second knight of the day. While he managed to land a blow on the man's shoulder, his opponent hesitated and his attack missed completely. He paid for his hesitation with falling from his saddle and to insult to injury, his foot got caught in the stirrup and he was dragged along the ground as his horse carried on at full speed.**

 **Ruby and Neptune ran up to help Jaune down from his horse, Ruby taking the reins, while Neptune took the lance. As he dismounted, Ren ran up.**

" **I have word." He said.**

" **What?" Jaune said as he took off his helm.**

" **Winchester's been called back to the Free Companies." Ren said, "The White Prince commanded it. He could be gone all season."**

" **First Yang, now Cardin?" Neptune said aloud.**

 **Jaune screamed his anger and threw his helm to the ground, even scaring the horse as he stormed off the field.**

" **Well done, idjit." Ruby said.**

" **Well done, indeed." Ren agreed.**

" **What?" Neptune said in his best Gavin Free impression.**

"Okay, now he's just being childish." Glynda commented.

"He's letting his rivalry become an obsession." Ozcar observed, "His obsession will consume him if he lets it continue as it is."

 **Northern Front**

 **Battle of Argus**

 **Cardin leaned over a table covered in maps in a military camp. Russel came up from behind him, carrying bundles of papers in his hands.**

" **Tournament results, my lord." He said. Cardin told him to put them off to the side as he considered the map again. He looked to the top paper and saw the shield of the tournament champion: Ulrich von Lichtenstein. He looked back to Russel who was making a face that said he wouldn't like the results.**

 **He turned to the next page. "Ulrich." He said. He turned to the next page. "Ulrich." The next page. "Ulrich. Ulrich. Ulrich. Ulrich. Ulrich." Jaune had won every tournament he had been in since Cardin had left. Cardin considered the implications and didn't like them. Ulrich was getting better, gaining glory, fame and prestige, while he stood in the mud and mire of the battlefield, gaining nothing. He looked to Russel once more and drew a dagger from his belt, holding it backwards in his hand. He simmered for a moment before driving the dagger into the papers in his fury.**

"And _he_ is just a competitive asshole." Ozcar said.

" **Was he like this back in Beacon?"** Oscar asked in his head.

* * *

 **I'm beginning to wonder if I should have made these chapters longer. Before notes, this one is just over 3.5k which is about my upper limit. Oh well.**

 **That dance sequence was the bit I was worried about the most, since it is my least favorite part of the film. But it's also the part that I found easiest to write, much to my surprise.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite and leave a Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 10/31/19 (Halloween Special)**


	49. Chapter 49- Halloween 2019 Special

**Happy Halloween everybody! I know most of you wanted spooky movies like Alien and such, or something The Addams Family or The Nightmare Before Christmas, but I think a good chunk of you will forgive me for this. It is something I have had planned since the beginning and something I actually collaborated on with Genital WarThunder, the one who inspired this fic.**

 **Enjoy, while I spend my day at Knott's Berry Farm.  
**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 49- Halloween 2019 Special

" _Now, I realize we are in the middle of a film, however, I must interrupt. You see, right now happens to be a very special time. The date is October 31_ _st_ _."_

"Seriously?!" Ruby said excitedly.

"And why is that important?" Winter asked, hearing the groans coming from Teams RWBY and JNPR.

"It's my birthday!" Ruby yelled.

"Your birthday is on Halloween?" Coco asked, "Man you are one lucky kid, Red."

"She is, we aren't." Yang groaned.

" _Yes, Ms. Xiao Long, I know. But, getting back on track, I have a little something here to celebrate Ms. Rose's birthday. Enjoy."_

" **This is the story," a narrator began, "About a world of adventure. A sea full of excitement. And a man full of dreams, and a passion that seeks to drive him to the top!"**

" **My name is Oscar D. Pine, and I'm gonna be King of the-"**

 **Static filled the screen as the scene changed from a sailboat on the open sea to a bloodbath. Bodies covered the room. Heads were torn off the bodies or they had holes the size of your fist in them. In the middle of it, stood a young man, and a young woman.**

"I am officially interested." Cinder said, quickly sitting up in her seat.

"Psycho!" Neo signed.

" **Mm, oh, yes." The woman moaned, "I love you, Edward."**

" **And I love you, Bella."**

"Nooooooo!" yelled all the teenagers, leaving the adults completely lost, except for Tai and Qrow.

"No more sparkles, mama. No more sparkles, mama." Blake said, rocking back and forth in the fetal position from sheer fear of what was to come. She knew these characters, this series, and the literary horror it had spawned.

"Keep them away from us!" Weiss screamed.

"Sanctuary! Sanctuary!" Nora yelled.

"What in the hell? What am I missing?" Summer said.

"It's a whole thing, sweetheart. I'll tell you later." Tai grabbed her hand, pinching the bridge of his nose with the other.

 **There was a knock at the door. "Hold on." Edward said, "Who is it?" he called.**

" **Oh, you know." Said a familiar voice on the other side of the door. Suddenly the door was torn apart by a hail of bullets. The source of the bullets was Jaune firing a long handgun. His hair was longer than normal, and he was decked out in a red overcoat over his Pumpkin Pete's hoodie, with a red wide-rimmed hat, and orange-tinted reflective glasses. Edward screamed as he was pumped full of lead before falling over dead. Jaune holstered his gun and turned away. "A real fucking vampire." He said.**

"Oh, thank god." Blake let out with a huge sigh of relief.

"You said it." Ilia said, "Gods damn who ever made that movie."

" **Hey, Huntress," Jaune said into his comm bead, "Do you have the target?"**

" **Okay, Master, my name is Yang." Said Yang. She was on the roof of the house Jaune was in. She was in her old Beacon combat gear and held a large, powerful looking rifle in her hands, "And yes, I have the target in sight." Bella was running down the road like a maniac, for good reason.**

"Kill her!" Blake yelled at the screen.

" **Well, better take the shot. You're letting her get away."**

" **If you just give me a second to concentrate, I could- "**

" **She's getting away. She's running!"**

" **I get it, I'm lining up the- " Yang said, her eyes turning red.**

" **Going to miss it. Going to miss it!"**

" **Just be quiet and let me- "**

" **Hey, Huntress! Hey! Hey, Huntress!"**

 **Yang fired and Bella dropped to the ground with a giant hole in her chest. "There! I took the fucking shot! She's dead! There's blood everywhere!"**

 **Jaune smiled, "Oh, you are just a treat."**

"Thank you!" Blake and Ilia yelled.

"There's something to unpack there, isn't there?" Yang asked.

"Honey, there isn't enough time in the day." Ilia said.

 **One Week Earlier**

" **Now I know what you're thinking," Jaune narrated, "'How did all this come about?' Well, it all started on a midnight stroll through the woods. The air was clear, the moon was full, I was dying to sink my teeth into something. Get it? Because I'm a vampire." He laughed at his own joke, "It's funny."**

"Eh, six outta ten." Yang said.

"Better than anything you've come up with." Coco teased, receiving a face full of popcorn from Yang and a pinch from Velvet.

" **So, you came?" said a vampire clothed as a priest, "Too bad you're far too late."**

" **What?" Jaune asked.**

" **Everyone else is already dead. Except this little tart." He indicated Yang, who he had by the neck with her arm pinned behind her back, "But trust me- I still plan to kill her."**

" **Mm-hm." Jaune grunted, not really interested.**

" **But first… I'm going to rape her."**

" **Nnneat." Jaune was unimpressed.**

" **But before I can do any of that… I'm going to kill you!"**

" **Oh? See, that would be intimidating if you were… well, intimidating."**

"He's taking that rape threat rather lightly." Weiss said.

"I'll kill him! I'll fucking kill him!" Yang yelled, clawing at Jaune, who hid behind Pyrrha while Yang was held back by Ruby, Blake, and Nora.

" **Are you mocking me?" the priest said with a growl.**

" **Oh, no, nonono…pfft, yeah!" he quick shot the priest in the heart, having to shot through Yang to do so.**

"Shot through the heart, and you're to blame!" Ilia and Blake sang along with the screen.

"Darlin', you give love a bad name." Weiss finished, unashamed.

" **Well, that should about wrap things up here. Oh, yeah, forgot about you." He turned to Yang, who was currently choking to death. "Sorry about that whole shooting you thing, but I'm sure if you look deep into your heart- which is currently all over that tree- you'll find a way to forgive me."**

 **Yang looked up at him, still choking to death.**

"Help me, you idiot!"

" **Aw, jeez, you look like a puppy. A blonde, eviscerated puppy."**

 **Yang began to tear up, as she was STILL choking to death.**

" **Christ, fine, I'll help you. But only because you've got nice tits."**

"THAT'S why you help me?!" Yang yelled.

"Well, can you blame him?" Ilia said.

"Ilia!" Blake said.

"I kinda have to agree with her." Said Nora. When Ren gave her a warning look, she said, "What? She's got a bigger set than Pyrrha!"

"You think?" Pyrrha said, looking down and judging her boobs.

" **So that's your field report?" Glynda asked over the phone in her office, classical music playing in the background.**

" **Yep." Jaune replied over his cell.**

" **You went on a walk through the forest at midnight…"**

" **Yep."**

" **You killed a homicidal vampire priest…"**

" **Dead."**

" **And then you turned someone into a vampire… who happened to be a- "**

" **Big-tittied Huntress." They said together.**

" **Yes! It's like I didn't just get through explaining this! Now if you don't mind, I've got things to do."**

" **What 'things'? You don't do 'things'."**

" **Yes, I do. I take enthusiastic walks through the woods."**

" **And kill homicidal vampire priests."**

" _ **Very**_ **enthusiastic walks."**

"Giving you any déjà vu, Glynda?" Ozcar asked.

"So much. I think I might need a drink." Suddenly, a glass of whiskey appeared in her hands. "Thank you, Mr. Wolf." She said, saluting him with her glass before taking a sip.

 **One Week Later**

' **So that's your field report?" Glynda again asked over her phone.**

" **Yep." Jaune said over his cell.**

" **So you broke into the house…"**

" **Yep."**

" **And you shot him thirty-six times…"**

" **Thirty-seven." Jaune corrected. The amount of overkill was very important.**

" **And took out his partner…"**

" **To be fair, that was the Huntress. With the big titties."**

"So, they're not even going to address me by name? I mean, I'm right there." Yang said, annoyed.

" **You need to stop going on walks." Glynda sighed.**

" **And you need to hurry up and hook up some goddamn DSL in here."**

"What's that?" Ruby asked, looking to Yang, who shrugged.

"Dear Gods, I feel so old right now." Qrow said.

"Join the club, we've got jackets." Said Ozcar.

" **Ugh…listen. You have an assignment in Patch."**

" **Ooh, I've never hunted down a leprechaun before. Do you think if I shoot him with my gun, Lucky Charms will explode everywhere?"**

" **Sweet Christ!... Just get to Patch, kill the vampire who's taken over the hospital, and take the Huntress with you."**

" **Ah, come on," Jaune whined, "I have to bring her everywhere."**

" **Ah, ah, ah, None of the sass." Glynda warned.**

" **Yes, Moooom!" Jaune mocked back.**

"Jackass." Yang pouted.

"A funny jackass." Nora said. She had been laughing the whole time, mostly at Jaune's expense.

 **The scene changed to a view of the city of Mistral. Birds were singing, bells were ringing, and the sounds of a choir could faintly be heard.**

" **So what can I do for you, Father O'Mally'O'Connel'O'Carrol'O'Riley'O'Brian'O'Sullivan… who is also Mistralian?" asked Pyrrha with a smile on her face.**

" **Tell-a me, Nikos, what is your favorite thing to do?" the Father asked.**

" **Spreading the word and love of Jesus Christ to the many people of the world. Teachin' peace and love for all."**

" **And-a killing-a vampires?"**

" **Ah, just try to fuckin' stop me." She said with an even wider grin.**

"Uh-oh," Nora said, her smile falling, "Psycho Pyrrha alert."

"What? Killing monsters is what we signed up and trained for." Pyrrha argued.

" **And what about…Protestants?"**

" **Second verse, same as the first. Now put on a plane, so I can put 'em in a hearse." Her grin was almost manic.**

"Correction; Religious fanatic Pyrrha. Even worse!"

"Okay, yeah, that's bad. Now _I'm_ worried."

 **Later that night, in a sleepy coastal town on the island of Patch, gunshots could be heard within the abandoned hospital.**

" **Hey, Huntress!" Jaune called to Yang, who was sitting on the front steps with her rifle in her lap and her head in her hands, "Huntress! This is awesome! You should totally join in. Seriously, there's like 40 zombies in here. Just one shot to the head and they explode! It's like 'House of the Dead', only like, 100 times more awesome!"**

"I love that game!" Sun said.

 **Yang burst through the door. "Fine! I'll shoot some of the rotten bastards!" As she took aim, she muttered to herself, "Can't be that much fun." When the head of the ghoul she fired at exploded, her eyes immediately turned red. "Oh, fuck the hell yes!" She loaded a fresh magazine into her rifle and went to fucking town on the ghouls, firing left and right, and when she ran dry, she dropped her gun and used her bare hands. She finally ended her rampage when she stomped a ghoul's head in.**

"Damn." Yang said, impressed.

"I want that gun." Ruby said, starry-eyed.

" **Sweet Black fucking Sabbath." Jaune said, impressed with the carnage she had wraught, "If I wasn't holding out for that beast of a woman, Glynda, I'd fuck the red right out of those eyes."**

"Prof. Goodwitch, I swear- "Jaune said before Glynda interrupted him.

"Mr. Arc, relax. Nothing I haven't already endured." Glynda said, drawing the eyes of her students. "I am aware of my appearance. I am the one who chooses my attire after all."

"So, you choose to dress like a pseudo-dominatrix?" Roman asked, his curiosity piqued.

"It may be impractical against Grimm, true, but against human and Faunus opponents, it is quite effective I can assure you."

 **As Yang went to lick the blood off her hands, she was stabbed in the back by a bunch of familiar looking spears. "Well, kinda like that. Only with less symbolism and more my penis in your vagina." He smelled the air and turned around. "Huh? Suddenly it reeks of hypocrisy in here. Oh, if it isn't the Catholic Church! And what's this? No Little Timmy glued to your crotch? Progress!" he said sarcastically as Pyrrha walked into view, wearing a white trench coat over her usual armor.**

"That would make more sense if it were a guy, but it's still funny." Ruby sniggered.

"God, those jokes are so old." Yang complained.

"Are Jaune and Pyrrha gonna fight?" Nora asked, worried.

" **Ah, and look at what we have here," Pyrrha said with a smile, "A bloody heathen!"**

" **Excuse me! But I'm a fuck-mothering vampire! I killed A LOT of people to get this title. I deserve to be called such."**

" **Well,then, mind if I ask you your name?"**

" **Only if you give yours first, papist."**

" **Fine, I'll give you the courtesy. The name's- "**

" **Pyrrha Nikos." Ozpin told Glynda, who looked up in surprise.**

" **Oh, fuck all kinds of duck." Glynda said.**

" **You have been chosen to reveal my existence to the world!" Pyrrha said, pulling out another pair of spears. "You will witness what happens here today, and you will tell of it later." She formed her spears into a cross, "Except you won't… cuz I'll have killed ya!" she laughed maniacally.**

" **Oh my, brilliant speech. And unoriginal. That's totally from 'Boondock Saints'." Jaune said.**

" **What? No, it isn't. I came up with it a week ago."**

" **Whatever. We're here for the vampire."**

" **The only one left here is your sorry, pale ass."**

 **Yang raised herself up off the ground. She tried to speak, but she was- once again- choking.**

" **Yeah, yeah, gimme a minute." Jaune said, "So what do you want anyway? The nearest elementary school is at least 10 kilometers away."**

" **It is your corrupt acclaim, it is your evil that will be sought by me with every breath!"**

" **Boondock! Saints! Seriously, you must watch that movie religiously. Heh, get it?"**

"Plus side, at least Jaune has jokes." Coco said, "And they're better than Yang's."

"Coco, I swear, one more time…" Yang threatened, eyes now blood red.

"Now, Yang," Ruby said, trying to calm her sister, "She's not wrong."

" **Okay, you know what? Fuck it. Spear."**

" **Spear?" Jaune's confusion was soon dissipated when said spear impaled him in the shoulder.**

" **Master!" Yang called out.**

" **Boom." Jaune said. He pulled out his gun and shot Pyrrha in the head. "Headshot. Well, now that that's over, how about we go back to my place for a bowl of my favorite cereal, 'Count Choc-'"**

" **Decapitation!" Pyrrha yelled out as she cut Jaune's head from it's shoulders.**

" **Master!" Yang cried.**

"Bow-chicka-bow-wow." Sun said so that only Neptune and Faunus could hear him, making them chuckle slightly.

" **Well, now that that's over," Pyrrha said as Jaune's bullet was pushed out of her skull, "How about we go back to my place for a bowl of my favorite cereal, 'Frankenber-'" she looked over and saw that Yang had made off with Jaune's head. "Ah, son of a Protestant whore! Well, you know what time it is." As she summoned another set of spears, the word 'RAPE' was seen in front of her.**

"Okay, how?" Cinder said for the first time since the film started.

"Zombie, maybe?" Emerald suggested, "I mean, vampires and classic zombies are obviously things, so why not?"

"Ten lien says we see a werewolf too." Mercury said.

"We're in." Roman said, having Neo shake hands to make it official.

" **See? This kind of shit is why I stopped going to church." Yang said as she limped down another hallway, blood dripping from the holes in her body, and Jaune's head in her arms.**

" **Huntress…Huuuntreeess. You are reading your master's mind. Put my head between your booooobs." Jaune's ethereal voice said.**

"Okay, Vomit Boy, I swear, if you don't stop thinking with your dick, you're a dead man." Yang said.

" **Now I'm all alone." She said, hugging Jaune's severed head to her chest. "The only one I had left was you."**

" **Very good." Jaune's muffled ethereal voice said, "Now the next thing I want you to do is put me between your le- " he was interrupted when another spear pinned his head to the wall. "God dammit!"**

"That tears it." Yang said, as she tried to jump at Jaune again, only for Glynda to put her back in her seat with a glare.

"Thank you, Glynda." Said Ozcar.

" **It's a shame for you lost your head, a careless vampire who wound up dead." Pyrrha said as she walked down the hallway, spears held in her outstretched hands. "You wore your sin like it was some kind of prize. Too many lies… Too many lies…"**

" **What do I do? What do I do?" Yang asked herself, scared shitless, "I-I could try seducing her. Wait, no, I'm not an eight-year-old boy! SHIT!"**

" **Say your prayers, wee lass!" As Pyrrha went in for the kill, her spears were shot to pieces. She looked to where the bullets came from and saw Glynda standing before her with a sword in one hand, and a smoking gun in the other.**

" **That girl belongs to me." She said.**

"Something you'd like share with the class, Glynda?" Qrow said.

" **Well, aren't you the naughty one?" Pyrrha mocked.**

" **Don't' make me shoot you in the fucking head."**

" **What the hell do you want, you crazy Protestant bastard?"**

" **I'm a woman."**

" **Call yourself whatever you want, you crazy Protestant bastard."**

" **You do know this is a grave violation of our agreement."**

" **And what part would that be?"**

" **The part where you're here, killing my men." Glynda said with an edge to her voice.**

 **Pyrrha suddenly cut down the two Goodwitch agents Glynda had brought with her. She went for Glynda herself, but her spear was blocked by the others' sword.**

" **I've got no idea what you're on about! I'm just here doing my job! Hunting vampires, and werewolves, and leprechauns. I never actually found one, but ya think if I cut one open with my spear, it would spill out Lucky Charms?"**

" **Just shut up!" Glynda yelled, "Where the hell is Jaune?"**

" **Ah, him? I killed him!"**

" **Killed him?" said in surprise.**

" **Cut off his bloody head!" There was a hint of pride in Pyrrha's voice.**

" **Oh. Well, that's step one. What about two through ten?" Glynda smirked.**

"Well that freaking ominous." Jaune said.

"You must be some kind of super-powerful vampire if you can survive getting your head cut off." Blake commented. "That alone usually kills them in most forms of media I've seen."

" **Ah, Christ." Pyrrha said as she looked behind her. There Jaune was, reforming from a cloud of bats and shadows, a broad smile on his face.**

" **You done goofed." He said.**

" **How the blood-soaked Protestant hell did you do that?"**

" **Fuck you, that's how."**

" **You know what? I've had enough of this. To hell with all you dirty heathens." That said, Pyrrha opened an ancient looking tome and teleported out of the building.**

" **Eat me! Don't forget to write!" Jaune called back.**

"I think he likes her." Nora teased.

"Which one?" Yang said, getting in on the fun.

"Yes."

"There are somethings that are just destined." Jaune said, kissing Pyrrha's hand.

" **Oh…oh my god…" Yang said as she collapsed, not realizing that she had fully healed herself, "We survived!"**

" **Sooo…" Jaune said, looking to Glynda.**

" **What?" she replied.**

" **Do I get to go after her?"**

" **No." she said, not missing a beat.**

" **Aww, come on!"**

"Yeah, he definitely likes her."

" **No, and that's final. We've got bigger things to worry about. Whoever's behind these vampire attacks, it has to be some large organized group."**

" **Like the White Fang?"**

" **That would be retarded."**

"Of course the White Fang are the baddies in this." Blake said pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Well, we haven't exactly cultivated the best of images." Ilia defended.

"Why bother?" Adam chipped in.

 **Meanwhile…**

" **Gentlemen," Adam said to a room full of Faunus in White Fang Masks, "Ve… are the White Fang."**

" **Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil!" the Faunus replied.**

" **Und ve… will have war!"**

" **Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil!"**

" **Und ve… U-und ve… achoo!"**

" **Gesundheit! Gesundheit!"**

"So… that was a thing." Cinder said.

"It was interesting, to say the least." Torchwick agreed.

"I kinda wanna see where this goes." Mercury said.

"Hate to say it, but I agree with Legs." Yang said, "Despite how I'm treated, I kinda wanna see how this version of me grows."

"Best birthday present ever." Ruby sighed.

* * *

 **And just like that, he locked himself into writing for ten years. Bet you fuckers weren't expecting that.**

 **All the credit to Team Four Star for coming up with this absolute masterpiece of Abridging.**

 **On a more serious note, I received a few messages about last chapter in regards to the Christian faith. Please, allow me to offer my sincerest apologies. It was never my intention to insult anyone or their faith, merely to offer a commentary on Christianity's history.**

 **You guys have to understand that I have a History degree, and getting something like that forces you to look at the past with a more critical eye. You can't just read a textbook and take that information as gospel; you have to look deeper and formulate your own opinion based on the information you can find, even if all the information goes against your preconceived notions. To me, Christianity preaches a message of love and peace- which is good- but has a hard time practicing that message. Call me jaded, and I would probably agree.**

 **Anyway, hopefully, I will see you all next week when we return to A Knight's Tale.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite and leave a Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 11/5/19 (Tuesday)**


	50. Chapter 50- A Knight's Tale, Part 6

**We're back! Let's jump right in, shall we?**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 50

" **Ren."**

" **Jaune."**

"Nora!" Nora shouted. Everyone shushed her, and she complied with a giggle.

" **I need to write a letter." Jaune said, pacing around the interior of the barn the company were rooming in, holding a rose in his hand. "Dear Yang- no, My dearest Yang."**

" **Better." Ren commented, writing it down.**

"Gods, I should have done this back when I was crushing on Weiss." Jaune said.

"Still wouldn't have worked." Weiss said, "Though that is more my fault than yours."

"If it's any consolation, I pretty much gave up after I heard you ask Neptune to the dance."

"Sorry man." Neptune said, rubbing the back of his head.

" **Um, I miss you." Jaune started before Ren winced audibly. "What? Was that wrong?"**

" **Well, it's up to you really. It's your funeral- letter, I mean."**

" **Say something about her breasts." Neptune suggested, to which Sun agreed.**

"Do not do that!" Neptune said quickly.

" **Her breasts?" Jaune asked, directing the question to Ren.**

" **Uh, yes, you could, but, um, I would tend to look above her breasts, Jaune." Ren replied.**

"See? Ren gets it."

 **Jaune thought for a moment. "I miss her neck?"**

" **Uh, little bit higher." Ren said as Ruby struggled to hold in her laughter. "More towards the heavens, really."**

" **The moon at least." Ruby commented. "Her tits weren't really that impressive."**

"Someone sounds jealous~" Yang teased, receiving a face full of popcorn for it from a pouting and red-faced Ruby.

" **The moon?" Jaune clarified. "The moon… It is strange to think…" he began, "I haven't seen you since a month. I have seen the new moon, but not you. I have seen sunsets and sunrises, but nothing of your beautiful face."**

" **That's very good, Jaune." Ren said as he finished writing.**

" **I used to know this girl once." Sun said, "Admittedly, she broke my heart, but I used to say that the pieces…**

" **The pieces of my broken heart are so small that they can be passed through the eye of a needle." Yang said, reading Jaune letter aloud, Neptune standing behind her. "He writes as though I had died."**

"This is good stuff." Blake said, writing it all down.

" **Yes, Madam." Neptune said, "He dies as well."**

" **She used to cook for the Duke of Kingsport." Neptune said, adding his own story to the discussion. "I miss her like the sun misses the flower." He said before crying a bit.**

" **I miss you like the sun misses the flower." Yang read aloud, making Neptune grin. "Like the sun misses the flower in the depths of winter. Instead of beauty to direct its light to, the heart hardens like the frozen world your absence has banished me to."**

" **I next compete in the city of Mistral." Jaune narrated, "I'll find it empty and in the winter if you're not there."**

" **I like it." Ren said. "And now to finish it." Everyone turned to Ruby.**

" **With hope." She said with a smile. "Love should end with hope. My mother, God rest her, told me something I'll never forget. 'Hope guides me.'"**

" **It is what gets me through the day and especially the night." Yang read, "The hope that when you're gone from my sight, it will not be the last time I look upon you." She sniffed and Neptune was gentleman enough to offer her a handkerchief.**

"And this does nothing for you, Pyrrha?" Nora asked her sister.

"Not really." She shrugged. "Romance doesn't have to be grand, elaborate gestures. Sometimes it's the little things that count the most."

" **And finish it with," Jaune said, "With all the love I possess, Jaune."**

" **You mean Ulrich." Ren said looking up at him. Jaune's smile faded at that realization.**

" **With all the love I possess, I remain yours, the knight of your heart." Yang read. She rolled the letter and held it close, a tear running down her cheek.**

"Nice work around." Blake commented. "He maintains his cover, while also conveying his feelings for her."

 **Neptune knew what he had to do next, but it just felt like such a mood-breaker. "Um, my master had hoped you would have something to send him in return."**

 **Mistral**

 **Ren had just entered Jaune into the joust and was walking over to him. He was admiring the decorations, particularly the dragon in his green and gold colors.**

" **No Cardin." Ren reported.**

 **Jaune sighed. "Then no Cardin. Let's just hope that- "**

" **Whoo-hoo!" Neptune yelled as he came riding up on his horse. And it was** _ **his**_ **horse. Jaune had knocked so many knights from their horses that each member of the company had one, as well as a few spares to carry the wagon and one solely for competition.**

" **Nep." Jaune smiled and walked up to him. A stable hand took the horse from Neptune, who winked at her roguishly. "Tell me everything. Did you see her? Did she read the letter?"**

" **Yes, and yes." He answered.**

" **And?" Jaune asked, eyes wide in anticipation.**

 **Neptune's grin fell and he looked down. "Um…" Jaune's face fell as well. "She's coming to Mistral!"**

"Sounds more like something you'd do." Neptune said to Sun.

"Mainly to Scarlet." Sun joked. "The guy is just too easy a target."

" **Ah! You blue-haired son of a bitch!" Jaune laughed along with Neptune. "Well, did she give you anything for me in return? A letter or, or a token?"**

 **Neptune genuinely looked visibly upset now. He looked around, saw no one was looking and then kissed Jaune full on the mouth. Neptune spat on the ground and looked back to Jaune, who was standing stock still and wide-eyed.**

"Can we, uh, can we rewind that real quick?" Blake said, trying to keep her voice even.

"No." The men involved said together.

"Not even- "

"No."

"But- "

"Veto!" Jaune said.

"Moving swiftly along!" Neptune added.

" **Yes!" he yelled, as the implications sunk in. "Hell yes!" he continued to jump around and cheer like a loon for several minutes more, his male companions looking disquieted, while Ruby laughed openly.**

 **Later that day, Sun, Neptune, and Ruby sat around a table in a tavern having a few well-earned drinks as Ren spoke to some men who appeared to be Mistral natives. He walked back over to their table and sat down between Sun and Ruby.**

" **Alright, the wager they're proposing is that a Mistrali and not Sir Ulrich will win the tournament." He informed them. "However, the amount is fifty lien."**

" **That's all we got." Ruby said.**

" **Yes, and if we had 60, the bet would be 60."**

"They must be in the lower levels." Qrow commented. "Only the lower level pubs have folks who do that."

" **Even money, but Ulrich against every Mistrali knight here?" Sun asked, being the responsible one.**

" **Come on, Sun, he's won four tournaments in a row and once again, Winchester isn't here."**

" **I checked the shields too, Ren. John Beaumont, Count Theobald of Argus, Philip of Haven, all three Mistrali champions."**

 **One of the Mistralian stood up. "A Valean will not win this Mistrali tournament." He said, clearly drunk. "Valean legs are unsteady on Mistrali soil." His friends laughed at his poor joke.**

 **Ren and Neptune yelled at them to shut up until Sun reigned them in.**

" **Come on, Sun. It's a good bet." Neptune urged. "Win and I can buy my own tavern."**

" **I could write full time." Ren pleaded.**

" **And a new forge for me." Ruby said calmly, the shine in her eyes betraying her.**

" **Yes, and because Mistrali wine is too much for Valean bellies." One of the other natives taunted.**

 **Neptune stood angrily. "Look, you, I'm about this fucking close. I swear to God, you Nikos wannabe-"**

"Pyrrha? Care to shed some light?" Yang said.

"They might be referring to my father, Alexander." She guessed. "He had a pretty stellar competition record in his youth, and was the reason I started training for the circuit myself."

 **Sun pulled him back down. "Listen, all I want is to go home, and I already have enough to make that trip 100 times."**

" **And most importantly, because the Pope himself is Mistralian!" the third native said with a flourish.**

 **Apparently, this was too much for Sun, who stood up himself. "Yeah? Well the Pope maybe Mistralian, but Jesus is Valean. You're on!"**

" **Yeah!" the company shouted before launching into a song they had cooked up over the months, "** _ **He's blonde! He's pissed! He'll see you in the lists! Lichtenstein! Lichtenstein!**_

 _ **He's blonde! He's tan! He comes from frozen land!"**_

 **Meanwhile, Jaune was dressed in fine clothes and was entering a massive cathedral.**

 **Yang looked at her reflection in a bowl of holy water. "Do you think he'll come?" she asked Blake, who dipped a pair of fingers in the water to bless herself.**

" **As sure as the sun will rise." Blake replied as Yang did the same and walked off into the cathedral.**

 **Jaune entered a scant few seconds later and immediately saw Yang's mane of golden hair. He saw the bowl of holy water and, rather than bless himself with it, dunked his hands in and ran the water through his hair to straighten it out. He walked up behind Yang, bowing to Blake when she noticed him first. "You favor cathedrals." He said, gaining Yang's attention.**

" **I come for confession." She replied flatly. "And the glass. A riot of color in a dreary, gray world. Don't you think?"**

"This isn't gonna go well, I can already tell." Pyrrha said with a small smile.

"Small talk is not my strong suit." Jaune admitted.

" **It's beautiful." Jaune replied. He honestly didn't care, things like aesthetics being completely lost on him, but it seemed the right answer.**

 **Yang turned and smiled at him. "I feel the same about the letter you sent." Jaune chuckled nervously, wondering if he should tell her the full story. "Speak to me. Speak those words."**

" **I'm going to win this tournament for you." He said instead.**

 **Yang's smile fell. "Excuse me?"**

" **The tournament. I'll win it in your name. Every knight I defeat, I defeat for you. The… Your beauty will be reflected in the power of my arm, the flanks of my horse."**

"There it is." Jaune said.

"Suddenly, I'm much more appreciative of your poor attempts at flattery at Beacon." Weiss said. "No offense."

"A little taken, but thanks anyway?"

" **Wow." Yang said with a false smile, "Really?"**

" **Yes."**

" **Really? Its flanks?"**

" **Yes." Jaune replied, not knowing what he was doing wrong.**

" **I wish to hear poetry, Ulrich." Yang said, walking away.**

 **Yup, definitely should have told her the whole story. "Oh, well, I'm not ready."**

" **But I am." Yang said, stopping to face him, "And why must everything for a woman be run on a man's schedule?"**

"Oh, crap. Other me, say nothing!" Jaune said, eyes widening.

"Prepare your shovel, Vomit Boy." Yang laughed.

" **Well, a man's day is fuller, and… Well, you see, a man, he has more demands on his time."**

" **Is that so?" Yang's eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms.**

" **Yes. Maybe. No?"**

"Please, just stop." Jaune moaned.

" **I demand poetry… when I want it, and I want it now."**

 **Jaune struggled to find the right words. When he failed, Yang rolled her eyes and walked off, Jaune hot on her heels. "Yang, how can I prove my love to you? How?"**

" **Do you ask in earnest?" she asked him.**

" **Yes." Jaune said, all honesty.**

"More like in desperation." Yang said smugly.

 **Yang stared at him for a moment before nodding. "If you would prove your love, you should do your worst."**

" **My worst." He said with a smile, "What do you mean?"**

" **Instead of winning to honor me with your high reputation, I want you to act against your normal character and do badly."**

" **Do badly?"**

" **Lose."**

" **No." Jaune shook his head, trying to find her logic. "Losing proves nothing, except that I'm a loser."**

" **Wrong." Yang said loudly, walking up to him. "Losing is a much keener test of your love. Losing would contradict your own self-love and show your obedience to your lover and not yourself!"**

"I like that idea." Yang mused. "What do you think, ladies?"

"No comment." Pyrrha said, because of course.

"Same." Said Nora.

"Ditto." Ruby agreed.

"What do you think, Kali?" Summer asked. "I knew Tai for years before we tied the knot, so I knew he was genuine."

"Much the same, actually." Kali answered.

"I say we put a pin in this and get back to the movie." Weiss proposed.

 **A priest quickly came up behind Yang. "Sssshhh, woman!**

" **Do not shush me and spare him." Yang rounded on the man, her eyes blazing red. "Now be gone! Go!" she turned back to Jaune, her eyes changing back to lilac. "What is your answer?"**

" **I will not lose." Jaune said, letting his pride carry him.**

" **Then you do not love me." Yang said, staring him down until he left.**

" **The Protector of Faunus Virginity" Ren said, doing his introduction before the people of Mistral while balancing on the dividing fence and adding in a few extras titles he came up with on the spot, "The Enforcer of our Lord, God, the one, the only, Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein!" the crowd cheered, ringing bells and chanting Ulrich's name. "God, I'm good." Ren said, impressed with himself.**

 **Yang watched from the stands as his helm was secured in place, his eyes not leaving her the whole time. "Ugh, his horse's flanks?" she said.**

" **Maybe where he comes from it means love?" Blake said, trying to cheer her up.**

 **The flag was raised and Jaune's opponent charged him. Jaune trotted out, his companions egging him on, but he stopped dead in his tracks at the start of the divider.**

" **What are you doing?" Sun yelled.**

" **Losing." Jaune groaned.**

" **What?"**

" **I don't get it either."**

 **Yang stood and watched as Jaune took the blow on his shoulder, the opponent's lance exploding upon impact, but at least he remained mounted. She winced at the blow, but smiled. "He loves me."**

"If this is how he's supposed to prove he loves you, Yang," Sun said, "You're more sadistic than I thought you were."

"Uh, dude." Neptune tapped his friend on the shoulder and pointed at Team RWBY, all of whom were glaring at him fiercely.

"I just signed my own death warrant, didn't I?"

"You have until the end of the movie to write out your will, Monkey Boy." Yang growled.

" **Uh, are you blind?" Ren said, running up as the opponent returned to the start. "Did you not see the flag?"**

" **Yes, I saw the flag, okay?" Jaune said.**

" **I know what this is." Neptune said, "You wanna fall behind for a more dramatic victory."**

"Objectively idiotic." Pyrrha commented.

" **Look, Yang told me I should lose to prove my love for her."**

" **Oh, God, I liked it better when you were blind." Ren groaned as he walked off.**

" **Jaune, don't be an idiot." Sun said, "Each woman wants proof, that's all."**

" **Proof of what?" Jaune said, as Neptune growled and pointed at Ruby, who seemed to be taking this all in stride.**

" **That their legs haven't been uncrossed for nothing."**

"This man does not speak for me!" Sun yelled as all the women near him glared at him.

" **Sun, I haven't gotten that far yet."**

" **Well then why in the name of St. Oum are we doing this?" Neptune yelled.**

" **Because- " they noticed the crowd growing louder, looked up, saw the knight running at them and scrambled to get out of the way before the past repeated itself, except the lance didn't break this time. The trio walked back up to Jaune, standing on his right. "Because I love her." He admitted.**

" **Get Ready" by Rare Earth played as Jaune took hit after hit, showering Sun, Neptune and Ruby in splinters. At one point, the head of the lance didn't break, and Ruby caught it without flinching.**

" **I'm gonna lose everything!" Neptune yelled at Ren, Sun and Ruby holding him back.**

" **That's why it's called gambling." Ren said. Neptune managed to break free from Sun and Ruby's hold and tackled Ren to the ground, punching, screaming and tearing clothes, while Sun and Ruby just stood back and watched.**

" **It's very romantic though." Ruby said with a smile.**

 **Sun looked at her. "Are you a woman or a blacksmith?"**

 **The looked back to the two children. "Sometimes I'm both." Ruby said.**

 **By mid-day, the company were in a tent. Jaune was sat in a chair, his left arm in some kind of wooden contraption, his wrist wrapped with leather attached to a crank-like device that Neptune was turning, while Ren massaged his shoulders.**

"Well, one things for sure, leader; you're just as durable as ever." Nora commented with pride.

"Just wish I could prove it under better circumstances." Jaune said, rubbing his shoulder.

"What are they doing to him?" Weiss asked. "What ever it is, it cannot be safe."

" **No one knight has distanced himself with victories yet." He told Jaune as Neptune cranked again. "If you win all your remaining matches and some of your opponents take key loses, who knows, you could make the semis. Maybe even the finals."**

" **Well at least the armor's proven itself." Ruby said, examining the left pauldron, the part that had taken the most damage.**

" **And your love?" Neptune asked, "Have you proven that yet?" he twisted again and Jaune cried in pain as his arm was pulled.**

"I think he might have dislocated his shoulder." Pyrrha winced.

"Oh, Gods, that sucks." Yang commented rubbing her right shoulder. "I remember dislocating my arm during training one time. Worst pain I've ever felt. Dad, what did you say they had to do to me in the ER?"

"It took four people to get her right again." Taiyang said, thinking back, "The way I remember it, they wrapped a blanket around your torso, had three nurses pulling one way while the doctor manipulated your arm back into place."

"And then a good month in a sling, letting Aura do the rest of the work." Yang finished.

" **Dammit, Nep, you remember church as a boy." He said in pain, "The fear, the passion. That's what she makes me feel. And for that, I say my rosary to Yang and no one else."**

" **Jaune, that's blasphemous." Neptune said as he cranked again, and Jaune yelled all the harder as his arm stretched still further. A small crack and pop was heard, and Jaune sighed in relief, Neptune quickly undoing the crank and freeing his arm.**

"Yup, definitely the shoulder."

" **Oh, then may I burn in Hell." Jaune said.**

" **Withdraw." Sun pleaded, "Lose that way. Just don't take anymore punishment."**

 **Jaune tried to argue with him, but Blake walked up behind him and tapped Sun on the shoulder. He nodded to her curtly.**

" **My lady sends this message," Blake said. "She says that if you love her- "**

" **Look, I know, I know. I must lose." Jaune cut her off. "Is she not watching?"**

 **Blake took this in stride. "She says that if you love her, you will not lose another match. She says that if you love her, you will win this tournament." Jaune groaned in disbelief and fell over backwards cursing up a storm as Blake walked away with a small smile to Sun.**

"Oh, for the love of- Make up your mind woman!" Neptune yelled.

"Please tell me you wouldn't have been like this." Jaune whispered to Pyrrha.

"No, not unless you screwed up royally." She responded.

 **A few minutes later, Jaune sat atop his horse, ready for the next bout. His losing streak was extensive, and it would take a lot to even get into a position where victory was more than a pipe dream. Thankfully, he had** _ **a lot**_ **of pent up aggression to focus on his side.**

" **There she is," Ren said, pointing to Yang in the stands, "The embodiment of love. Your Venus."**

" **Oh, and how I hate her." Jaune said, closing his visor and taking his lance. No doubt his opponent assumed an easy win from him. This was going to be** _ **so**_ **cathartic.**

 **Jaune charged the knight and broke his lance on the man's chest. Neptune laughed as he cheered.**

" **I do not understand women," he admitted to Ren.**

" **Nor do I, but they understand us." Ren agreed. He then turned to Neptune, "Well, maybe not you."**

 **The second time he faced the knight, he unhorsed him. The third time, he hit him so hard his helmet was sent flying into the crowd.**

 **That night, Ren collected the group's winnings from the men in the tavern with a smile on his face. As he walked back to the tent he, Neptune and Sun shared, he saw Yang walk into Jaune's tent. They had given him his own to allow him to better rest from the beatings he had gotten today.**

" **Salem goes to Ozma." He said to himself. "Treat him well, my lady. Treat him well."**

'So we're a legend in this reality? Interesting.' Salem thought to herself as she dug into a dish Logan had called 'ramen'.

" **We missed you at banquet, Sir Ulrich." Yang said to Jaune, who was laid on his back on a cot.**

" **We?" he asked, still a little bitter.**

" **I." Yang amended. "Me, your prize."**

" **My prize." Jaune chuckled, rolling his eyes. He didn't exactly feel like he had won anything, or proven anything other than he could take a hell of a beating. "I am not worthy of a prize."**

" **Then who is?" asked Yang as she shed the cloak she was wearing, revealing her pale gold night gown. She got on her knees and leaned against Jaune's cot. "My maid tells me, that sometimes your attendants call you 'Jaune'. Is this so, Sir Ulrich?"**

" **Yes." He admitted, "Yes, it is."**

 **Yang smiled and climbed into bed, sitting next to him. "Your name makes no difference to me, just so long as I can call you my own." She took his hand.**

" **I assure you Yang, I am your own." Jaune said as she leaned in to kiss him. Suddenly he cried out in pain, clutching his side. "Dammit."**

 **Yang pulled down the sheets enough to see the wound. "God, you need a surgeon."**

" **He came earlier. Says I'll live, but damn me if it doesn't feel like it."**

 **Yang took his hand again. "Jaune, this pain is my fault."**

" **Yes, it is." Jaune said, making her laugh again. She helped him sit up in the cot. "Although, my father taught me to take the bad with the good."**

" **Well, I can assure you, that any good that comes of this night will also be my doing." She said, kissing him and pushing him back onto the bed.**

"Gods, that's about all of that I can stomach." Pyrrha complained.

"Wow, you really do hate romance, don't you?" Yang commented, a little irritated as well.

"I'm sorry, but it's just so obviously not genuine. I don't know, maybe I'm just jaded. I'll try and do better to not bitch and moan from here on, though."

* * *

 **God, once these are done, it feels like I'm already on my two-week break.**

 **So, I hope you all enjoyed Hellsing Abridged for Halloween. Reviews have been mixed, with not a few people none too pleased that I did comedy for Halloween instead of actual horror. The reason for that is that I simply don't like horror. It doesn't scare me, and it's always so cheesy. If anything, it's more cringy than scary.**

 **So, instead of doing a horror movie, I went with something fun, cuz that's what Halloween is about to me. When you're a kid, you dress up and go door-to-door collecting candy. That's fun. Now, I'm an adult who spends his Halloweens at an amusement park with his friends, laughing at all the teenagers who actually get scared by the 'ghouls' running around the park. Pro-tip: the more you scream, the bigger a target you are. If you can return their fire, they are actually pretty fun.**

 **In summation, expect another episode of Hellsing Abridged every Halloween for the next nine years. Why? Cuz the fuck-mothering vampire demands it, the fucking attention whore.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite and leave a Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 11/12/19 (Finale)**


	51. Chapter 51- A Knight's Tale, Finale

**Before we begin today, I would just like to get something off my chest. If you guys want to be critical of my work, you're welcome to. If you want to express this criticism in a review, great! I love it! However, I only ask that you do not do so anonymously. The reviews allow me to start a one-on-one dialogue with you guys, so if you have any problems with my work, I can talk to guys about it directly, and I can't do that with anonymous Guest reviews and even regular Guest reviews.**

 **Why do I ask this of you? Well, it would seem that, ever since I posted the first episode of Hellsing Abridged on Halloween, a troll has appeared in the reviews. And it appears to be a smart troll, since he only contacts me through Anonymous guest reviews.**

 **Bah, forget him. Let's just get to the good stuff.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 51- A Knight's Tale, Finale

 **A few weeks after the tournament at Mistral, the company of five were sat on a barge at night, a large man pulling on a chain to move the barge. Ren shivered in the cold and rubbed his hands together.**

" **How long since any of you have been back?" he asked. "I've only been gone six months."**

" **Two years for me." Ruby said.**

" **Three years here." Neptune said.**

" **Five." Sun said, "Five long years."**

"I can't imagine being away from my girls for that long." Summer said.

"What's the longest you were ever away from them, if I may ask?" Kali asked.

Summer thought hard. "When the girls were two and four, I was gone for a month on a seek and destroy mission in Mistral. There was a major Grimm attack on a village there. Almost no survivors. Me and a few other Hunters were tasked with investigating the attack and killing any lingering Grimm. We never found anything other than massive hoof prints and claw marks."

 **When Jaune didn't answer, Ren called his name. It didn't reach him though. Jaune was caught in a memory from childhood. He was sat on this same barge with his father, the bargeman making conversation.**

" **He's to be an apprentice, then?" the man asked, spitting into the water. Joseph nodded, holding Jaune close. "How long?"**

" **Seven years." He answered. When the barge landed, Joseph quickly led Jaune over to a tall man with short, spiky red hair. "Sir Adam?" Adam turned, revealing a clean shaven face, blue eyes and a pair of horns sticking out of his head. There was nothing of the Adam we know in him. His face was calm and calculating, not a trace of hatred present nor any blemishes of any kind.**

"That's what Adam looks like without the mask?" Yang asked Blake.

"He used to." She said cagily.

"Huh. Not bad for pyscho-stalker ex."

" **I'm the thatcher. We spoke outside Vale Stadium." Joseph explained.**

" **Ah, yes. I remember." Adam said kindly, before looking down at Jaune. "This him?"**

 **Joseph held Jaune close before nodding. "Yeah."**

" **Well, step forward, lad, let me have a look at you." As Jaune stepped forward, a sword clanged against the cart. "Careful with that, Sun!" Adam sternly said to a much younger Sun, who nodded. Adam turned back to Jaune. "Are you afraid of me, boy?" Jaune shook his head. "No? How about teeth? You still got most of those?" Jaune held his mouth open, showing Adam his mostly pearly whites. "Good. Show me your arm. You got a strong arm?" Jaune flexed his arm, muscle barely existent. Adam tested it, but seemed to find it suitable. "Well, he's a half-starved little scarecrow, but he's got spirit."**

'At least he's not running him through.' Blake thought. 'Definitely an alternate universe.'

 **Adam knelt down to look Jaune in the eyes. "I can show you a great, wide world, full of adventure and marvels that you do not yet dream of. Can you pack my horse and lead it?" Jaune nodded. Adam smiled (WTF!?) "Alright then. Let's get started. Say goodbye to your father.**

 **Joseph knelt before his son. "He's a real knight, Jaune. Watch and learn all you can." He pulled Jaune into one final hug. "It's all I can do for you, son. Now, go. Change your stars and live a better life than I have." He stood and looked at Adam, who nodded at him.**

" **Sun, show the boy his duties." Adam ordered.**

 **Before he could, Jaune ran after his father, stopping at the dock for the barge. "Father, I'm afraid." He said.**

" **Of what?" Joseph asked.**

" **I won't know the way back home."**

" **It's simple, son. Just follow your feet."**

"The hell kind of advice is that?" Nora asked.

"The exact kind my father would give." Jaune chuckled. "This is the guy who told me 'all women look for is confidence' after all."

"The advice is sound." Weiss said, "It's just that you misunderstood what he meant by confidence."

" **Jaune?" Ren asked again. This time, Jaune answered.**

" **Twelve years. Twelve years away." He looked up and stood, "But now I'm home."**

 **Sun stood with him. "Vale." He whispered. Everyone looked up. In the rising morning light, the outline of houses, churches and towers could be seen, with the spires of Beacon reaching up off to the left.**

 **Vale**

 **World Championships**

' **The Boys are Back in Town' by Thin Lizzy began playing as knights paraded through the streets of Vale, their shields and colors held aloft by their attendants. Jaune was no different, dressed in full armor, riding through the streets as Ruby, Sun and Neptune walked alongside him, their faces painted in the green and gold of Sir Ulrich.**

 **Jaune was awkwardly waving to the crowd when he passed by a familiar stockade. A young blonde boy was crouched on it, waving at him. For a split second, Jaune could swear that little boy was a younger version of himself, waving at him and giving him a thumbs-up before it changed back into the local boy. Jaune smiled and waved at him as his horse moved along. Soon, the crowd was chanting his fake name. He looked up and saw a gaggle of attractive young women trying to get his attention, the attention of any knight, really.**

"Hey, eyes on the prize, Lover Boy." Yang said jokingly.

"That reminds me." Ruby said, "We never came up with a name for your relationship, did we?"

"Oh, I already came up with one." Nora said. "You guys just never asked."

"Well?" Yang said eagerly, "Don't leave us hanging, what do you got?"

"How do you like Dragon Slayer?"

"I like it. Nice and intimidating." Yang grinned.

 **Slowly, the knights began to file into the massive stadium, standing side by side. Ren came running up.**

" **I have news." He panted. "Cardin's here. He's entered."**

" **Must have grown bored with whatever war they're fighting." Sun said.**

" **No, no, the White Prince commanded it." Ren explained, "The Free Companies are disbanded. They were reveling in the night, pillaging town after town, robbing and murdering and ransacking churches. Faunus mostly. All the oldest sins committed in the newest ways."**

"Typical human." Adam sneered.

"Oh, Adam, why don't you just shut the fuck up already!" Ilia yelled, surprising everyone. She stood and looked him dead in the eye. "You act like only humans are responsible for all the horrible things that have happened to us, but we have proven that Faunus are just as capable of that as them."

"Are you comparing me to a human, Ilia?" Adam growled.

"I'm saying you're a spiteful, angry little man who thinks he is the only one suffering." Ilia said evenly, "Thinking you could lead the Faunus better than Sienna was the second biggest mistake I've ever made."

" _Mr. Taurus, it would seem I erred in bringing such a destabilizing factor as you here. This shall be rectified once the movie is over."_

"The sooner the better." Ilia said as she took her seat behind Blake.

 **Cardin rode up next to Jaune. "At last we will face each other again, Sir Ulrich." He said "And at the World Championship, no less."**

" **Like I promised you before, Winchester, you will look up at me from the flat of your back." Jaune replied. He looked into the stands and saw Yang smiling at him, so he smiled back, thinking back to the night they spent together. Unfortunately, Cardin saw as well.**

" **Let the past die." He said, "You've done well in my absence, on the field and off, so I've been told. Winning trophies, horses, women."**

" **You put them in that order?" Jaune asked.**

 **Cardin considered this. "Generally, with a few exceptions." He saw him smiling at Yang again. "Beautiful, isn't she? A real thoroughbred trophy, don't you think?"**

"Did he just objectify me?"

"He just objectified you." Blake said.

"I call dibs on beating the pulp out of him next time I see him." Yang growled.

 **Jaune's face twisted in annoyance. "You speak of Yang like she is a target."**

" **Isn't she?"**

" **No." he turned to look at Cardin. "She is the arrow."**

 **Cardin scoffed at him. "I've entered into negotiations with her father. I aim to make her my bride. She'll be saddled and placed on my mantel. Target or arrow, it makes no difference to me. I will have her."**

"Like I would ever let this fuckwit anywhere near my daughter." Taiyang muttered.

"You? Please." Summer said, her eyes blazing, "I'm the one he should worry about."

"I like the way you think, Mrs. Rose." Ghira smiled, glaring at the back of Sun's head.

 **The crowd began chanting Ulrich's name as Jaune faced off against his first opponent. Jaune couldn't quite place it, but something was off with this foe. He was leaning to one side and it threw his lance off target, allowing Jaune to land a solid blow on his chest, knocking him from the saddle without taking a hit himself.**

 **Cardin watched from a corner in the stands as the knight's horse ran past with his master hanging off him.**

" **How would you beat him?" he asked an older man standing next to him.**

" **With a stick, while he slept." The man said, "But on a horse? With a lance? That man is unbeatable."**

"He knows." Blake said, grinning.

"Knows what, Blakey?" Yang asked, her anger subsiding.

"He knows he can't beat Jaune one-on-one."

"Which makes his next move clear." Jaune said, "Cheat. Do whatever it takes to make sure I am no longer a threat to him winning."

 **With his matches for the day done, Jaune wandered the streets of Vale on horseback, not even caring about the downpour of rain. He stopped at an overhang that connected two houses on opposite sides of the street and shook the water from his blonde locks. He noticed a small girl sitting on a barrel nearby, playing with a toy lance bearing his colors.**

" **Hello, there." he said. The girl looked up at him, smiled and looked back to her toy. Then, her brain caught up with her eyes and she looked at him with wonder.**

" **You… You're Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein." She said in a shaky voice.**

" **Yes." Jaune said with a smile.**

" **You're my favorite knight!" she said, now smiling, "When we joust, I always say I'm you. What are you doing here in Cheapside? There's no parade today."**

 **Jaune looked around, but saw no one else, not in this weather. "Can you keep a secret?" he said, leaning down toward her. She nodded eagerly, and he saw no deception in her eyes. He dismounted and squatted next to her, so that he was looking up at her. "I used to live in Cheapside, just around the corner there."**

" **Really, Sir Ulrich?"**

" **Really really."**

" **I only live just there." She pointed to a house a few doors down from them.**

" **Well, how old are you?"**

" **Nine and one half." She said proudly.**

" **Nine and one half." Jaune repeated, sounding impressed. "I wonder, do you remember a man, though he may have died before you were born. He was as tall as a knight, and just as broad. His name was Joseph Arc."**

" **Of course, I do." She said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.**

" **You do?"**

" **Well, yeah, he lives there still." She said, the knowledge hitting Jaune like a ton of bricks. "Sometimes we see him sitting at the window, but no one knows why."**

" **What do you mean?"**

" **He's all alone, Sir." The girl said, looking down sadly.**

"Get a box of tissues ready, folks." Qrow joked.

"Or a barf bag in Pyrrha's case." Nora teased.

"Actually, I want to see what Jaune's father looks like after twelve years." Pyrrha said.

 **A few minutes later, Jaune was walking up the steps of the house he had grown up in. At the top of the stairs, he saw a man sitting in a chair facing the hearth, back to the stairs. Jaune stopped when he stood in the doorway.**

" **Who's that?" a gruff voice asked. "If you're here to sell me something, I'm not damn interested."**

" **No, sir, I'm a knight." Jaune replied.**

" **Good for you."**

" **My name is Ulrich."**

" **Hmph, heard of you. You sound some sort of decent at least. Now, what do you want?"**

" **I have word, Master Arc, of your son."**

 **Joseph, paused as his drink reached his lips. Slowly, he put the drink down, but didn't rise. "And what word is that?" His voice was shaky. "Does he live?"**

" **Yes, he lives. He is very well. He wanted you to know, that he changed his stars after all."**

 **Joseph took in a heavy, shaky breath. "And has he followed his feet?"**

" **Yes."**

 **Joseph rose, revealing a man with short grey hair, and a matching beard. "Oh my God." He whispered, "Jaune." He walked over to his son and embraced him tightly, Jaune meeting him half-way and doing the same.**

"Damn. Even grey he looks good." Yang commented.

"About matches what we saw when we stayed at Jaune's place." Ren added.

"But how did he get that grey at that age? And how is he able to stay that buff?" Taiyang asked.

"Eight children to raise, and a very strict workout regimen. In that order." Jaune explained.

 **The rain continued to pour as the two men reconnected, laughing, eating, drinking and speaking of each other's lives since that day twelve years ago.**

" **I should like to meet this Neptune, and Sun as well." Joseph laughed, eating some bread.**

" **You will, Dad, you will." Jaune chuckled with him. "Alright, my turn, where is everyone else? Where are mom and the girls?"**

" **Ah, well, Saphron is in Argus. She met a girl- Terra, I think her name was- about a year or two after you left. They bonded over shared interests and set out to make names for themselves. Last I heard, they were far closer than that."**

" **How close?"**

" **Well, let's just say you're an uncle now. Your mother and the rest live in the house of Arturia's husband down in Attika. A good man by the name of Emiya."**

"Now that sounds universe-specific." Jaune said, "Last I heard, Arturia was as single as the rest of us. Ren and Nora aside, of course."

"We're not together-together." Nora professed, but nobody bought it.

" **I take it you and Mom made him prove himself worthy before giving your blessings?" Jaune joked.**

" **Rigorously." Joseph assured him.**

"That sounds like my parents though." Jaune said with a chuckle. "Though they would have probably given you a pass, Pyr."

"Why do you think that?" he asked, a little hesitant about the answer.

"You're too damn likable for your own good." He replied. Pyrrha sighed in relief.

" **Now then, Jauney Boy, tell me, what of women? Is there a certain one, or many?"**

 **Jaune smiled to himself. "Just the one, Dad."**

" **I should like to meet her as well."**

" **You'd like her, I'd wager." Jaune said, taking a bite of some cheese. "But this leak won't do." He frowned at the dripping water coming from the ceiling. "Not in the most noble house of Arc."**

" **A little water won't kill me." Joseph chuckled.**

" **Well, let me have a look at it." Jaune said, making for the window so he could climb onto the roof. Unbeknownst to him, Cardin stood in the shadows on the streets below, a cloaked woman pointing out the Arc home. He saw Jaune climb out the window and onto the roof and smiled viciously.**

"Yup, that'll about do it." Velvet sighed. "He can use this to make the nobles question his lineage."

"They'll look closer at his papers, and see that they're fake." Blake added.

"And then, prison, at best."

 **The church bells tolled over Vale as Jaune prepared himself for the second day of competition. Or rather, his friends helped him into his armor while he stood and told them about meeting with his father last night.**

" **Alive. Can you imagine that?" he said, practically giddy. "And here I thought he was dead, which is just plain stupid, cuz he was always so strong. I remember-" he stopped and turned to see Ren and Yang walking up to him in the stable. "Ren, Yang! This day just gets better and better."**

" **Somebody die?" Sun asked when Ren didn't respond and just kept failing to look Jaune in the eye.**

" **Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein." Ren said.**

" **What?" Jaune asked, confused.**

" **Cardin had you followed last night." Yang explained. "To Cheapside. He claims he saw your father."**

" **Jaune, they asked me for your patents." Ren told him, guilt filling his voice. "They're waiting for you in the lists. They're gonna arrest you. A dozen royal guards. They're gonna put you in the stocks."**

"But, Cardin's a knight." Ruby protested, "Isn't this against some kind of knight code?"

"Maybe in fairy tails and fantasy novels, Ruby." Velvet said, "This is life for these people, what life was like back then, in a fashion."

" **But I face Cardin in five minutes time." Jaune said, refusing to accept that the game was up.**

" **No, you forfeit." Ren said, "They've already marked it down."**

" **Saddle the horses." Sun ordered. "They can arrest your baggage, not you."**

"Smart move." Velvet commented.

 **Jaune stood there and looked at Yang. "Wait." He said, standing in front of Yang, letting her see him for the peasant and liar he was. "So, uh, what do you think? Now that you know what I am." Her opinion was all that mattered to him right now. He could accept the game being up so long as he could still be hers.**

" **Heh. To know what you are, Jaune, would take a lifetime." She answered, "One I am most willing to give. But right now, you need to run." Jaune was glad to hear that she still loved him, but to hear her tell him to run stoked his anger. "There's no good option here. Run, and I will run with you."**

" **Yang, I can't run." He told her. "I am a knight, and I will put myself to the hazard."**

"See? He gets it." Ruby said.

"It's admirable to hold to the ideal, but reality doesn't give a shit, Red." Torchwick said. "Figured you would have learned that by now."

" **A knight in your heart, but not on paper." Sun said, "And that's all that fucking matters to them."**

" **Jaune, I love you." Yang said, "Truly, I do. And I'm sorry, but I won't see you led to the stocks."**

" **Oh, but you will see me run? No!" he said.**

" **Damn your pride, Jaune. It is you, and only you, that will not allow you to run."**

" **My pride is the only thing they can't take from me!"**

" **But they can take it from you! They can and they will!" Yang was crying at this point. "But love they cannot take."**

"Her running would be a temporary fix at best." Velvet said. "If Cardin is really trying to arrange a marriage, he would just hunt her down and drag her back, after securing her father's agreement. And if it meant killing Jaune at the same time, he would do it himself."

 **The tears quelled Jaune's rising temper and his voice lowered. "And where will we live?" he asked. "In… in my hovel? With the pigs inside in winter so they won't freeze?"**

" **Yes, Jaune, with the pigs." Yang sighed, "The poor can marry for love."**

" **Oh, Yang, you speak of what you do not know."**

" **Jaune, I beg you, please, run. Do it for love."**

 **Jaune saw the battle with her was lost, so he turned to his friends. "Sun, you would see me run?" Sun nodded, unable to look his friend in the eye. "Ren?"**

" **Yes, Jaune. With all the pieces of my heart."**

 **Jaune sighed and pointed at him angrily for that low blow. "Nep. You and I, we aren't runners."**

" **Yes, Jaune, today we are."**

 **He looked to Ruby. "Run, Jaune."**

" **No!" he yelled, "I will not run!"**

"Well, he has your stubbornness at the least." Pyrrha commented.

"Not one of my better traits." Jaune agreed.

 **Sun could see the resolve in his friend, misplaced, misguided and stubborn as it was and nodded. "Well, boys, all good things must come to an end. Let's end 'em together."**

 **The five friends walked out to the lists. Jaune took the lead, flanked by Ren and Neptune, with Sun leading his horse and Ruby carrying his helm. They were met by the herald for the tournament, who came flanked by a unit of pikemen dressed in the white and pale blue colors of the Schnee family. The herald stepped in Jaune's path and stood resolutely in front of him.**

" **You shall remove yourself from this position of honor." He said calmly.**

 **Jaune stared him down. "I am here to compete."**

" **You are here to be arrested." The herald nodded and the two of the guardsmen bound Jaune's arms behind his back while the rest kept his friends from helping him.**

 **Cardin smiled and watched from the other side of the field as everything went down. Russel stood behind him, having put the dots together and bewildered that his lord would do something so dishonorable to secure victory for himself.**

"At least Russel doesn't seem too on board with Dickhead's plan." Yang said.

 **Cardin would visit Jaune later in prison. The latter stood in a square cell, his wrists tied to a wooden beam placed behind his head. He paced around Jaune, almost wary of the man, like the bound man was some sort of wild animal that could attack him at any moment.**

" **He that strives to touch a star, often stumbles on a simple straw." He said, approaching Jaune. "You have been weighed." He whispered before punching him in the side. "You have been measured." A slap across the face. "And you have been found wanting." A gut shot. "It's one loss or another, Jaune Arc. In what world, could you have ever beaten me?" With a final strike to the knee, he left the cell.**

"Anyone else see the look in his eye?" Nora said.

"He almost seemed unhinged." Coco said.

"Or very near it." Velvet commented.

 **By midday, Jaune found himself in the same stocks he had passed only a day previously, left on display for a large crowd of the common folk. The boy who had waved at him ran up to him and slapped his head, making the crowd laugh at the would-be knight. Soon, Sun stepped up, armed with a long, heavy stick.**

" **Leave me, Sun." Jaune said, resigned "Let them have me."**

 **Sun shook his head, putting the stick behind his head and resting his arms on it. "God love you, Jaune. So do I."**

" **Go on! Get!" Neptune yelled, stepping out of the crowd, followed by Ruby, who was wearing a bandolier containing every smithing tool she possessed, though she currently held a pair of hammers. Neptune began hurling insults and threats at the braying crowd in his usual, ineffective manner, while Ren stepped forth to make sure Jaune was okay. Then, he turned to the crowd.**

"Team Arc sticks together, I guess." Jaune chuckled.

"Yeah!" Ruby cheered.

"We wouldn't have it any other way." Sun said, with Neptune nodding his approval.

"I wouldn't want to lose my favorite brother, now would I?" Ren joked.

" **Listen to me!" he yelled to be heard over the tumult but the crowd simply began throwing vegetable at them. Sun and Ruby managed to keep them from hitting Jaune, not caring if they took any hits while doing so.**

 **Suddenly, the entire crowd hushed as Whitley Schnee drew back the dark hood he had been wearing, as did his bodyguards. He walked up to the stocks and knelt next to Jaune.**

"Oh, a development." Winter commented with interest.

'What is he playing at?' Weiss thought to herself. 'He's so different from the little shit I know that I can't predict his actions.'

" **What a pair we make, huh?" he said quietly. "Both trying to hide who we are, both unable to do so." He looked around to Sun, Neptune and Ren on one side, and Ruby on the other. "Your men love you. If I knew nothing else about you, that would be enough. But you also tilt when should withdraw. And that is knightly too." He turned to the guards. "Release him." he ordered, sending whispers throughout the crowd.**

 **He turned to the crowd and spoke to them with authority. "He may appear to be of humble origins, but my** _ **personal**_ **historians have discovered that he is descendent from an ancient royal line." The crowd muttered in astonishment. "This is my word, and as such is beyond contestation." He turned to Jaune. "Now, if I may repay the kindness you once showed me? Take a knee."**

"Oh, what?" Jaune said.

 **Jaune breathed heavily and got down on his knees before Whitley, who drew a sword from his waist. "By the power vested in me by my Grandfather, King Nicholas, and by all the witnesses here, I dub thee, Sir Jaune of House Arc." The crowd cheered at the momentous occasion, until Whitley silenced them with a gesture. "Arise, Sir Jaune." He held out a hand to the now official knight to help him to his feet, which he gladly accepted. "Now tell me, Sir, can you compete? After all, I do have a tournament to finish. Or shall the forfeit stand?"**

" **Oh, I am fit." Jaune said, new strength filling him.**

" **I shall have your opponent informed of it." Whitley assured him, the two sharing the same hungry smile, "You look for his shield in the lists. At once."**

" **Thank you, my lord."**

"Hey, Weiss, you okay?" Ruby said, waving her hand in front of Weiss' disbelieving face.

Blake leaned over and snapped her fingers in front of her face. Nothing. "Yeah, I don't think she's there anymore. Jaune being knighted must have been too much for her to process all at once."

 **Trumpets played a fan fare as Whitley took his place in the stands, along side his orange-haired, pink and green dressed wife. He took her hand and smiled at her, and she smiled back.**

"Penny?!"Weiss shouted, breaking out of her stupor.

"Yes?" said girl answered.

"Wait, are you two- what?"

"It would appear that, yes, me and friend Whitley are married in this reality."

"What did you just call him?!"

"I called him friend Whitley, as I do with all people I consider my friend. Except for Ruby, of course. We talked about it before the tournament."

"How? Why?"

"He visits my father and I quite often. In fact, it was his idea to have me be backed up should anything happen to my core."

"So, you're saying he had a hand in your creation?"

"A minimal one, but yes. We talk quite often, mainly about the SDC and it's management."

" _I'm so glad you two are connecting, but I must insist that you continue the conversation after the movie."_

Weiss looked around and saw the people staring at her. "Oh, yeah, right." she took a moment to regain her composure. "My apologies. Proceed."

" **My lords, my ladies, and all you other people." Russel said, trying out Ren's style as he announced Cardin. Meanwhile, Cardin was speaking to a familiar-looking raven haired woman with yellow eyes who was holding one of his lance heads.**

" **Are you sure?" he asked her.**

" **Yes, my lord," Cinder said in a sultry voice, "It's nothing more than spun sugar and boot black." Cardin crushed the fist-shaped lance head in his hand to reveal a deadly point.**

"Okay, now he's going too far." Jaune said.

"He's going to get you killed!" Nora growled.

"That's the idea." Cinder said.

"Why would he even go this far?" Weiss wondered aloud.

"He's afraid of change." Ozcar answered. "No matter the era, society is completely dependent on the idea of the status quo. He was fortunate enough to be born on the end that favors people like him, and raised to believe that he was naturally superior to all those not of his class. This is reinforced by potentially years of success as an athlete. The idea that anyone, much less someone of a lower class than him, could be better than him likely terrifies him, and he will do whatever it takes to maintain his place in the status quo."

" **Jaune, I know it's a small target," Ren said, handing his lord a lance, "But aim for the heart."**

 **Jaune nodded, but looked to Blake in the stands. Yang was nowhere to be seen and all Blake could do was shrug. He nodded back and looked over to Cardin as a squire locked his visor in place. Jaune did the same with his own. The flag bearer raised the flag and the opponents charged each other, Cardin's horse rearing as it started, while Jaune's received a solid slap on the rear from Sun. The two met, but only Cardin's lance broke upon impact, Jaune's not even hitting.**

 **Jaune's friends ran up to him and saw that a large chunk of lance was protruding from his shoulder. Even Whitley winced when he saw the state Jaune was in. Jaune removed his helm and found he couldn't so much as touch the lance without feeling great pain.**

" **Oh, God. I'll fetch the surgeon, Jaune." Sun said.**

" **Sun, you're the surgeon now." Jaune told him**

 **Sun nodded and held Jaune's shoulder in place as he grabbed the chunk of wood and pulled hard, revealing the sharp point at the end.**

" **The bastard's tipped it." Ruby said angrily, her silver eyes flashing.**

" **Save it, Ruby." Jaune said, "Just help me get back to one, before we forfeit."**

" **That dirty, slimy, impotent son of a bitch." Neptune growled as Ren walked up to him, seeing the lance head.**

"Yang?" Pyrrha growled.

"Yeah, P-Money?" Yang growled back.

"Do me a favor will you? Next time you see Cardin, remove his manhood before you kill him."

"It's a small target, but I promise to do my best."

 **Back at his start, Sun handed Jaune another lance. He groaned a bit at the weight, but ultimately used the pain to fuel him for the next bout. The men charged each other, but Jaune could not bear the weight, and dropped his lance half-way, allowing Cardin to break his own lance on Jaune's left arm. Thankfully, this one was not tipped.**

 **The company ran to Jaune as he removed his helm.**

" **Ruby! Ruby, I can't breathe." He gasped. Ruby took off his primary shoulder guard and began tinkering with the neck piece as Cardin walked up.**

" **Like I said, Arc." He said smugly, "In what world could you have ever beaten me? Such a place does not exist."**

" **She's here, Jaune." Ren said, walking up to the group. "And so is your father."**

 **Jaune looked up and could indeed see his father sitting next to Yang, who was wearing a pale yellow dress and talking animatedly with his father.**

" **Change your star." Jaune whispered to himself. He looked to Cardin, "Let's dance, you and I."**

" **It's two lances to none." Sun told him as the three led Jaune back to the start, "You must unhorse him, or kill him. It's the only way to win."**

"All in favor of the latter option?" Nora said, raising her hand.

"Aye." Said all of the students. Even Neo raised her hand.

"Neo?" Torchwick asked, confused.

"What? The dick deserves it." she signed.

 **Ruby managed to get the rest of Jaune's armor off, leaving him in only his padded gear.**

" **You need more padding." She suggested.**

" **No, leave it off." Jaune said, "I can't breathe with it on." Ruby looked to Sun, who nodded. "Lance." Neptune handed him the lance, but Jaune cried out at the weight. "Nope. Gah, I can barely grip it. Dammit." Jaune panted, trying to think of an answer, though he could only come up with the one. "Lash it to my arm." He ordered Neptune, who looked up at him in disbelief. "Nep, lash it to my arm."**

 **Neptune looked to Sun. "Do it." he agreed.**

Jaune nodded. "When the going gets tough, the tough get creative."

 **Meanwhile, Ren paced in front of the noble stands, hating that there was nothing he could do to help. He saw Neptune tying the lance to Jaune's arm, and then saw the flag bearer preparing to start the match. He had to do something, so he did what he was best at; talking. He ran up in the noble box and stood on the banister.**

" **Good people, I missed my introduction!" the crowd supporting Jaune cheered, missing the second most entertaining part of Jaune's matches. "But please, please, I pray you, hear it now. For I would lay rest the grace in my tongue and speak plain. Days like these, are far too rare to cheapen with heavy-handed words. And so, I'm afraid, without any ado whatsoever- pardon me my lord," he stepped up between Whitley and Penny, "Here he is! One of your own! Born a mere stone's throw from this very stadium and here before you now. The son of Joseph Arc, Sir Jaune of Arc!"**

 **Jaune looked up, hearing the crowd cheer. "That's your name, Jaune." Neptune said to him. "Sir Jaune Arc. Your father heard that."**

"I like the ring to it." Jaune mused. "Sir Jaune of Arc. Reminds me of one of my ancestors, the one my sister was named after."

 **Jaune nodded and stared across the field to Cardin. The men stared at each other, waiting for the flag bearer to raise. The world slowed as the two charged each other, Cardin in full gear, Jaune in only his padding.**

 **As they neared, Jaune screamed his name as loud as he could. "Jaune of Arc!" and thrust his lance right into Cardin's chest. The lance exploded and the man was thrown backwards. He felt himself leave the saddle and the world froze around him. He lay on his back, hovering above the ground.**

 **Neptune walked up to him and looked down at him. "You have been weighed."**

 **Sun joined him. "You have been measured."**

 **Ruby walked up, hands on her hips. "And you absolutely…"**

 **Ren looked down between Ruby and Sun, "Have been found wanting."**

 **Jaune joined the four of them and smiled widely down at Cardin. "Welcome to the new world." He said. "God save you, if it is right that he should." Then the quintet walked off, and time caught up with Cardin as he was thrown from his horse and landed on his front, Jaune's cry still ringing in his ears.**

 **The crowd erupted in cheers, and even Whitley joined them, before laying a happy kiss on a smiling Penny.**

" **That's my boy!" Joseph yelled as Yang ran from the box. She brushed past Russel, who was clapping and chuckling for the honorable win.**

"Something tells me Russel will be looking for new work after this." Nora said.

"I've already got the best herald in the business." Jaune said, "Sorry, not sorry."

 **Jaune struggled his arm from the lance as his friends met him on the field. He hugged Neptune and Sun, and then hopped the fence when he saw Yang running up. He met her and the two embraced in a deep kiss, tuning out the crowd and all else.**

" **I think I'm gonna have to write some of this story down." Ren said as the companions watched the lovers embrace.**

" **The part about the prince and the knights?" Neptune asked.**

" **No, no, no, all of it." Ren said, "All human activity lies within the artist's scope." He pursed his lips. He looked to Neptune. "Maybe not yours."**

 **Neptune looked at him, offended, until a smirk spread across his face. Neptune chuckled and drew Ren into a half-hearted headlock.**

' **You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC played as the credits rolled.**

"Another good one." Velvet commented.

"Another bitchin' soundtrack, too." Sun groaned as he stood and stretched. "Wolf?"

" _Already on your scroll."_

"Thanks."

"Okay, Penny, come with me." Weiss said, taking the robot girl's hand. "We need to talk."

" _You do that. Now, Mr. Taurus, if you would be so kind as to follow Ragnar to the exit?"_

Adam stood and followed the largest wolf, whose pelt was beginning to grey, to an exit that appeared in the wall. He stopped at the door and turned. "I may have failed at Haven, but I will keep my promise to you, Blake. Count on it."

Blake made to respond, but Ren held her back. Nora and Jaune stood on her left, Ren and Pyrrha on her right, Ruby in front of her and Yang even in front of her.

Yang cracked her knuckles. "Go ahead and try it, Edgelord. I fucking dare you."

Adam left with a scoff. Everyone in the theater instantly relaxed when he was gone.

Summer leaned over to Kali. "Your daughter dated that man?"

"Much to our eternal shame, yes." Kali sighed. "Ghira was against it from the beginning. Said he saw the potential in him from the day he joined. He hasn't trusted a boy around Blake since."

* * *

 **So yeah, Adam's out. I originally threw him in there when I planned to do Jurassic World after Jurassic Park, but then I got it in my head to do the whole damn series, which is gonna take a while. He's also one of those characters I can't really do much with, so writing him out just makes sense right now.**

 **Extra Life was pretty fun this year. Sorry to see 2Spooky go, but at least Whose Spot was as good as always. Still can't believe that Xavier Woods actually showed up. Hope it becomes something regular, though maybe without the leg injury?**

 **And HOLY FUCKING SHIT! AH THE MUSICAL FINALLY HAPPENED! I thought it was gonna be just another video, but then I'm like what the fuck is thi- oh!**

 ***RWBY VOLUME 7 SPOILERS INCOMING! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!***

 **So, we're two episodes into season 7 and I'm liking what I'm seeing. Penny's return was fun as all get out, and I'm glad Ironwood is being more open about Salem and all that junk than Ozpin ever was. However, I don't like that Ruby pulled an Ozpin on Ironwood. I figured she was better than that.**

 ***THIS CONCLUDES THE SPOILERS FOR RWBY VOLUME 7***

 **Alright, we're off for two weeks, and when we come back, we begin the Lost World.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite and leave a Review, and I will catch you all later for our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!**

 **Next Update: Thanksgiving 2019**

 **EDIT: One last thing, I will be going through all the chapters and making it so that their chapter titles are consistent.**


	52. Chapter 52

**Wow, has it been a year already? Gotta say, when I posted this last year, I did it as a kind of 'ah, what the hell' kind of thing. I never expected it to be the most successful thing I've ever done.**

 **I would like to say thank you to all of you who stuck with this drivel for as long as you have. We've had our ups and our downs- looking at you, CU- but here stand. Let's hope for another thousand followers in another year.**

 **And, what better way to celebrate a year of success, than with the sequel to the movie that started all this? Enjoy The Lost World: Jurassic Park**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 52

" _Ms. Rose, Mrs. Rose, I believe you will like this next film. Maybe not as much as its predecessor, but still…"_

"More dinosaurs?" Ruby said excitedly as her mother came to sit next to her.

" _Indeed. This film is a direct sequel to Jurassic Park."_

"Awwwww, yeeeaaaah."

 **Sounds of the wind blew through the darkened theater, eerie rumbling and roaring accompanying it. The screen lit up, showing a landmass covered in foliage near the ocean, clouds covering the upper layers.**

 **ISLA SORNA**

 **87 MILES SOUTHWEST OF ISLA NUBLAR**

"So we're not on the same island as in the first one?" Yang said.

"Aw! You promised dinosaurs!" Ruby whined.

"Have a little patience, honey." Summer said with a smile.

 **The camera changed to a beach next to a set of cliffs that were being battered by the surf.**

 **THE LOST WORLD**

 **JURASSIC PARK**

 **It panned over to show a yacht anchored just off-shore. Suddenly, voices could be heard milling about. Man in a white uniform appeared, carrying a bottle of champagne. He walked over to a tanned man with dark hair sitting in a beach chair reading a newspaper, and poured a glass for him.**

" **Thank you, Barry." He said as he took the glass.**

 **Behind him, a young girl with long hair that matched her father's took a sandwich from another man in the same uniform. She walked past her mother, a fair-skinned brunette, who asked her where she was going. The girl rolled her eyes and the two argued as the little girl walked away.**

" **Oh, for Gods sakes, leave her alone, Deidre." The man said, fed up with their constant fighting this whole trip. As the girl walked off, her mother quickly ran over to her husband.**

" **Paul, what about snakes?" she asked worriedly.**

" **There aren't any snakes on the beach." He told her.**

"That's true." Coco said, "On a properly hot day, a snake wouldn't survive more than a minute on the beach."

"Cuz of the whole cold-blooded thing?" Yang asked.

"Yup. It's all about body heat regulation."

"Kinda makes you wonder if the Grimm follow those kinds of rules."

 **The little girl hummed to herself as she skipped her way down the beach, sandwich in hand. As she neared where the beach gave way to forest and plains, she saw some bushes rustle off to the side, a strange purring coming from within. She saw them move again, and a small green creature hopped out. It about the size of a chicken, covered in green scales and had small arms tucked up against it's chest.**

" **Hello there." the girl said, crouching down to look at the creature. "What are you, a little bird or something?"**

"That's a good question." Yang said, turning to her sister. "Ruby?"

"It's too small for me to say, but the size does tell me that it's a part of the coelophysid family. Which also means…." Ruby's eyes widened in dawning realization.

"Rubes?"

"That girl should run. Right now." She said, a little afraid.

 **The little dinosaur hopped closer to her, until there was only a foot between them.**

" **Are you hungry?" she asked, sitting down. "Here, take a bite of this. It's roast beef. It's good." She fed it some of the meat from her sandwich. She turned back the way she came and shouted for her parents to come and look. When she turned back, she stood back up in fright as an entire pack of the little things came out of the brush, chittering and squealing.**

"And now I see what you mean." Yang said.

"Get out of there!" Ruby yelled at the screen.

 **Back at the camp, a table was set with a high-end lunch.**

" **Cathy, darling! Lunch is ready!" her mother called, unaware of the danger her daughter was in.**

" **Are you looking at this?" Cathy asked as she tried to back away from the little dinosaurs that were surrounding her, her arms raised above her head. "I'm afraid there isn't enough to go around." She screamed when one of the dinosaurs jumped at her arm and tried to bite her. She threw her sandwich to the ground in the hopes of placating them, and while a few did swarm it, more still swarmed her and she screamed even louder.**

 **Her father immediately put down his paper and stood when he heard her fait screams.**

" **Paul?" his wife asked.**

" **Cathy?" he said loudly, before breaking into a run down the beach towards the screams. His employees and wife ran after him. As they turned the corner, their pace increased when they saw the creatures attacking the little girl. When the wife caught up to them, she screamed in horror.**

"That's a hell of a way to start a movie." Roman said as he took a drag from his cigar, letting the burn help him calm his nerves.

"That poor girl." Neo signed, hand covering her mouth. She flipped the sign, "What? I'm a crook, not a monster."

 **Nora Valkyrie yawned as she leaned against a wall advertising a beach vacation as her train arrived at the platform. She wore the same attire we last saw her in; jacket, shirt, pants and shoes, all black. As she walked in, she took a newspaper and sat down near the back of the train.**

"Am I the star of this one?" Nora asked, a manic grin splitting her face.

'Dear Gods, I hope not.' Her team thought simultaneously with a shiver.

"I'd like to thank the academy!" Nora said, faking tears.

 **As the train began to move again, a man glanced back at her, and seemed to recognize her. He walked over to her and sat down perpendicular to her. She opened the newspaper and pretended to start reading, hoping the guy would just go away.**

" **You're her right?" he asked with a smile.**

 **Nora looked at him in confusion. "Excuse me?"**

" **The scientist? The lady? I saw you on TV." He leaned towards her. "Hey, I believed you." He sat back and made some roaring noises.**

 **Nora smiled, glad to know at least some people believed her about the park. Even so, she turned away from him, not liking the attention over much.**

 **A butler walked towards a wood and glass door, and opened it.**

" **Who shall I tell Mr. Ozpin is calling?" he asked formally.**

" **Nora Valkyrie." She said, "I've been summoned." She thanked the man as he invited her in. He led her up a flight of stairs and bade her wait for a moment. She looked up as she heard a door close and saw some welcome faces.**

" **Nora!" Ruby said, as she ran down the stairs and locked her in a fierce hug. She had grown from the little pipsqueak she had met. Gone was her red hoodie, replaced by a black t-shirt, a black skirt with a red trim, stockings and black boots, but the red hooded cape remained.**

" **What's up, Doc?" Yang said as she too walked up to Nora and hugged her. She had grown too, her chest beginning to fill out a yellow blouse, her hair flowing freely behind her.**

"Must have been some time between the movies for us to have grown like that." Ruby commented.

"I was at least a pre-teen last time, so we're probably both going through puberty by now." Yang said, thinking hard. "My money's on five years, tops."

" **Oh my god, kids. Kids!" Nora chuckled, happy to see the sisters. "You two look great! Not exactly munchkins anymore, are ya?"**

" **Some of us more than others." Yang teased.**

 **Ruby ribbed her softly before turning back to Nora. "You're here to see grandpa?"**

" **Uh, yeah, he called me." Nora said, "Do you know what it's about?" he saw the smiles disappear from their faces. "What is it? is everything okay?"**

" **Well, not exactly." Yang said. Before she could elaborate, another door opened and stream of men and women in suits filed down the stairs and out of the building. The very last one in line was a tall woman with blonde long blonde hair, wearing a business suit.**

'Well, well, another appearance of the old me.' Salem thought as she eagerly dug into a steak dinner the Old Wolf had provided. 'Let's see if I play a bigger role this time around.

" **Oscar, I believe I will let you take control for a while."** Ozpin told Oscar in his head.

"Alright, but don't lock the door this time." Oscar told him.

" **Well, well, Dr. Valkyrie." She said dismissively. "Dr. Valkyrie. Here to share a few campfire stories with my brother?" she walked over to a small table where another man in a suit was placing documents for her to sign.**

" **Mm-hmm. Goodbye."** Ozpin said.

"At least you're only siblings this time." Oscar said, trying to help.

" **How is that any better?"**

"No risk of sex?"

"… **. That proves nothing."**

 **Nora took a breath and stood before her, hands on her hips. "Look, you can convince** _ **The Vale Post**_ **and** _ **The Skeptical Inquirer**_ **of whatever you want. But I was there. I know what happened and so do you."**

 **Salem shook her head as she started signing. "Do you really think that everyone who chose discretion did so for a nefarious motive? Even Ruby and Yang?"**

" **Leave them out of this." Nora spat at her with venom, as the butler came and escorted the sisters outside. "It's not a game."**

" **Indeed, it isn't." Salem said as she continued signing, not even looking Nora's way. "You signed a non-disclosure agreement before you went to the island that expressly forbade you from discussing anything you saw. You broke that agreement."**

" **Yeah, I did, and you lied. You twisted the facts surrounding the deaths of three people. You stuffed misinformation down the public's throat, which made me look like a nut. Hasn't been so good for my livelihood- "**

"I hate to say it," Weiss said with a grimace, "But she's in a grey area at best."

"Are you seriously defending the personification of evil?" Blake said, a little shocked.

'Indeed, young one. Are you?"

"I'm just saying that it's all about perception when it comes to businesses." Weiss said defensively. "If her company allowed what actually happened on the other island to get out, her company would be ruined, if it isn't in a rough place already. If Nora is the only one speaking against them, then they only need ruin her to keep themselves looking good. It's one of the many things Jacques drilled into my head before I met you three."

" **We made a generous offer of compensation for your injuries."**

" **That was a payoff and an insult! When you spin reality, when you cover up evidence, it hurts more than just my reputation, it hurts- "**

" **If I recall," she interrupted, "If I recall, your university revoked your tenure for selling wild stories to the press."**

" **I didn't sell anything. I never took a cent and I told the truth."**

" **Your version of it." Salem scoffed.**

" **There aren't any 'versions' of the truth, and I'll tell you something else, InGen can't keep spewing out- "**

" **InGen is my responsibility now, doctor, and I will jealously defend it's interests." Salem said as she finished her paperwork and pocketed the pen.**

" **Your responsibility? What about Mr. Ozpin?"**

 **For the first time since they had spoken, Salem turned to face Nora. "It is our board of directors I must look in the eye, not my brother." She said, walking up to Nora,**

"What's that supposed to mean?" Velvet asked.

"It's a power grab." Weiss realized. "She's trying to take control of her brother's company. Just like my brother did to me with our inheritance. No defending that, not to me, at least."

" **Believe you me, Doctor Valkyrie, your problems are about to be rendered moot. And in a few weeks time, they'll be long forgotten." As she made to pass by Nora, the ginger girl grabbed the blonde tightly by the arm.**

" **Not by me." Nora whispered. Salem looked down at Nora's hand and quirked an eyebrow.**

" **Careful." She said calmly, "This suit cost more than your education." Nora released her and she walked away.**

" **You were right and I was wrong, there!" Ozpin's disembodied voice said, "Did you ever expect to hear me say such a thing?" Ozpin appeared on screen, dressed in pajama's and a dark green robe, and laying up in a bed. "Thank the Gods for Site B."**

" **Site B?" Nora said, confused and adjusting to seeing Ozpin connected to so many medical monitors. Whatever was going on with him, it was serious, but not so much that he had to be confined to a hospital. Either that or Ozpin just had enough money to afford in home medical care. Probably the latter all things considered.**

 **Ozpin smiled. "Isla Nublar was just a showroom, something for the tourists. Site B was the factory floor. That was on Isla Sorna, 80 miles from Nublar." He explained, leaning forward and resting on his elbow. "We bred the animals there, and nurtured them for a few months and then moved them into the park."**

"Then why put the lab and hatchery scene in the original movie?" Blake asked aloud. "It's something of a canon conflict."

"It's all show, remember?" Neptune said, "They probably would've transported that baby raptor we saw to Site B if shit hadn't hit the fan that very day."

"Hmm, fair point." Blake conceded.

" **Really? Well, that's news to me." Nora said, anger and shock mixing within her oddly.**

" **Now, after the accident in the park, Hurricane Clarissa wiped out our facility on Site B. Call it an act of God. But we had to evacuate, of course, and the animals were released to mature on their own." He chuckled and looked up at Nora, "'Life will find a way', as you so eloquently put it. And by now, we have a complete ecological system on the island, with dozens of species living in their own social groups, without fences, without boundaries, without constraining technology. And for four years, I've tried to keep it safe from outside interference."**

" **Well, yeah, obviously. Hopefully, you've managed to keep this island quarantined and contained. But I'm a little bit shocked by this." Nora's mind was racing, remembering everything she could about the animals themselves. "I mean, how are they still alive? You said you bred them lysine deficient. Shouldn't they have kicked it after seven days without supplemental enzymes?"**

 **Ozpin was laughing now. "Yes! But, damn it, they're flourishing! That's just one of a thousand questions I want the team to answer!"**

" **Team?"**

'Even in defeat, you continue to meddle in things, don't you, Ozma?' Salem thought.

" **Yes." Ozpin grunted as he tried to get out of bed, Nora helping him to his feet. "I've organized an expedition to go in, and -thank you- and document them. To make the most spectacular living fossil record the world has ever seen."**

" **Wait, go in and document? You mean with people?!"**

" **Yes. The animals won't even know they're there. Very low impact, strictly observation and documentation." He walked over to a computer that showed a thermal scan of the island. "Aerial infrared scans show that the animals are fiercely territorial. The carnivores are isolated in the interior of the island, so the team can stick to the outer rim." He looked up to Nora, "Don't worry, I'm not making the same mistakes again."**

" **No, you're making all-new ones." Nora groaned dragging her hands over her face in exasperation. "Ok, let me get this straight here. There's a new island with dinosaurs on it, no fences this time. And you want to send people in, very few people, on the ground. Right?" Ozpin nodded. "And, dare I ask, who are these lunatics that you're trying to con into this?"**

"Well, this you a freaking ray of sunshine, isn't she, Pinky?" Roman quipped.

"I almost _died_ last time!" Nora argued back, "I think I'm entitled to be a little jaded, don't you?"

"She's got a point, boss." Neo signed.

"Yeah, I know." Roman told her, "I just like messing with 'em every now and again."

" **Well, I'll admit, it did take a while to convince them as to what they would be seeing, and in the end, I had to use my checkbook to get them to go, but it's a small four-person team." Ozpin said, picking up a stack of dossiers and handing them to Nora. "First, there's Leonardo Lionheart, who is a field equipment expert. And there's Sun Wukong who is a video documentarian. Uh, we have our paleontologist," he kept that dossier to himself, "and I was hoping that, perhaps, you would be the fourth.**

" **Look, we've been on the verge of Chapter 11 ever since the accident in the park, and there are those in the company who wanted to exploit Site B in order to bail us out." Ozpin sighed, "They've been planning it for years, but I've been able to stop them up until now. But, a few weeks ago, a Mistrali family on a yacht cruise, stumbled across the island and their little girl was injured. She's fine, of course, but, the board has seen fit to use the incident to take control of InGen from me. And now it's only a matter of time before this lost world is found and pillaged. Public opinion is the only thing I can use to preserve it, but in order to rally that kind of support, I need a complete photo record of those animals alive and in their natural habitat."**

" **So you went from capitalist to naturalist in just four years." Nora said, "That's… definitely a thing."**

"Ha! Called it." Yang said. "Five years, tops."

 **Ozpin waved her over, met her half-way and patted her arms. "It's our last chance at redemption."**

 **Nora considered it for a few moments. "Oz, no. Of course, no, and I'm gonna call the rest of your team and try to talk them out of this. Who's the paleontologist, by the way? You never said. I'm guessing Jaune?"**

" **She contacted me, I want you to know that." Ozpin said as Nora began walking away.**

" **Who did?" Nora asked.**

" **Leave it to you, Nora, to have associations, affiliations, even liaisons with the best people in so many fields."**

" **You didn't contact Penny, did you?" Nora asked frantically.**

"Me?" Penny said.

"It's about time you got to shine, Penny." Ruby said, shaking her friend's shoulder excitedly.

"But I was in the last movie."

"Yeah, in a role with no lines!"

" **Paleontological behavior study's a brand new field, and Penny Polendina is on that frontier. Her theories about parenting and nurturing amongst carnivores have framed the debate. What are you doing?"**

"See? Full name drop. You're a big character this time."

" **Where's your damned phone?" Nora said, scan the room for the telephone, finding it and dialing Penny's home number.**

"What about her scroll?" Yang said.

"Well, you see, Firecracker," Qrow said, a shit-eating grin on his face, "Back in what your parents and I call 'The Day', scrolls weren't a thing yet. We had to use these big blocky things called telephones."

"Piss off, Old Man!"

"Heh, worth it."

" **It's too late." Ozpin said mournfully. Nora turned to face him. "She's already there. The others are meeting her in three days."**

 **Nora dropped the phone and sat against the desk she had found it at. "You sent my girlfriend to this island alone?"**

" **Sent is hardly the word I would use." Ozpin said, bringing Nora a glass of water, which she declined, "She could barely be restrained. She was already working in Attika, doing some research at the Safari Park, and it's only a couple hours flight from there. And she was adamant, simply adamant, about making the initial foray on her own. She and Ruby would get along famously, I swear. 'Observation without interference,' she said, and she went on and on- oh you know how it is with her. After you were injured in the park, she sought you out. And then she went all the way to that hospital in Menagerie, to ask someone who she didn't even know if the rumors were true."**

" **Oz, you wanna leave your mark on something, fine." Nora said, finally getting over the shock, which was quickly replaced with anger and determination. "But** _ **stop**_ **leaving it on other people's headstones."**

" **Oh, she'll be fine! She spent years studying predators from all over the world. Sleeping downwind and all. She knows what she's doing. And believe me, the research team- "**

 **Nora help up a finger to silence him. She locked a fierce glare on him. "It's not a research expedition anymore, it's a rescue operation. And it's leaving right now."**

 **She stormed off, the butler calmly walking after her. Ozpin returned to his bed, smiling.**

"Oh, look at that grin." Yang jeered.

"That is some serious keikaku doori shit right there." Sun laughed.

"Cake-what?" Ruby asked.

"Keikaku doori, Ruby." Blake explained. "Just as planned."

* * *

 **Yup. Not only is this movie Nora's time to shine, it's Penny's as well.**

 **Now that we're wrapping up for today, I have a question for all of you. Would you all prefer if I kept doing my usual method of putting out one movie in a franchise at a time, with stand-alone filler movies in between? Or, would you like it more if I did the entire franchise in a row with filler movies? The upshot is that we'd be doing the entire JP franchise before moving on to the next franchise, ie, LW-filler-JP3-filler-JW-filler-FK. The downside is that it would delay things like Star Wars, The Mummy Returns, and any future franchises. Let me know in the comments for this chapter.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite, and leave a Review, and thank you once more for a year of support.**

 **Next Update: 12/3/19 (Regular Schedule)**


	53. Chapter 53- The Lost World, Part 2

**The votes are in and the readers have spoken! The vast majority of you guys seem to like my current method of putting out movies, so continue it shall.**

 **Now, in just over 50 chapters worth of content, this is the one I'm most afraid of. This is the chapter that my readers will either love or use to call for my internet crucifixion. You'll see why soon enough.**

 **Also, huge thanks to user razmire for providing us with an amazing piece of Cover Art for our first anniversary!**

 **And now, on with the show.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter XX

"Hey, Old Wolf, time out." Jaune said.

" _Yes, Mr. Arc?"_

"I just realized something. You said earlier that the only woman I'm not compatible with is Nora, but only because she always winds up with the same person. Do we all remember this?"

"We do." Ruby answered for everyone.

"I don't." Penny chirped.

"It's a whole thing, you'll see."

"And I think that the eight of us all know who that certain person is? Yes?" Jaune said, getting affirmatives all around, "So, my question to you is, why is Nora with Penny in this scenario?"

" _Well, Mr. Arc, I think you can all agree that life is heartless bitch. Sometimes things work out, sometimes they don't. Sometimes things look like they're working out, but then they just fall to pieces. The latter is completely true in this case."_

"That doesn't really answer my question."

"… _Just watch the stupid movie."_

 **Nora walked behind an older lion faunus as he led the way through a warehouse filled with equipment and vehicles in various stages of construction.**

" **You can't shave three days off my deadline and expect everything to be ready." A familiar voice said, "I'm not fully supplied, I haven't even field tested any of this!"**

"Ah, dear Leonardo." Ozcar sighed, lamenting the fall of his old friend and feeling that he might somehow have been responsible for it.

"Is that you, Ozpin?" Glynda asked.

"Yes. Seeing that the situation was not as bad as I feared, I decided to, as Ms. Xiao Long would put it, 'fucking deal'."

"Sounds like something I'd say." Yang nodded.

" **Dammit!" Nora said, "What's the point of giving her a cutting-edge scroll if it doesn't work? What's the matter with it?"**

" **Could be anything, really." Lionheart explained, "Solar flare, CCT connection could be out of sync, she maybe even turned it off." He raised his voice for the workers. "I need half-air on the tires here, guys!"**

" **Does she know how to use it?" Nora asked as they neared the front of a camouflaged two-compartment bus.**

" **You kidding me?" Lionheart laughed, "She sent me refinements on 50% of the plans for this stuff. Hey, hey!" he yelled as Nora banged the bulky scroll on the bus. "Don't do that. You gotta baby it a little. You gotta love it."**

" **I'll love it when it works." Nora said.**

" **It'll work when you love it." Lionheart retorted as a van backed into the warehouse.**

"Wow, okay, that thing must be tough as hell." Coco said.

"Yeah, if we did that to one of our scrolls, the damn thing would have shattered." Velvet agreed.

"Yup. It's a sign of how old this movie is." Summer commented. "We built stuff to _last_ back then."

" **You coming along, Leo?"**

" **I usually don't. I don't like the field over much, but in this case I couldn't resist."**

" **Thanks for the two-minute warning, Leo." Sun said, as he got out of the van.**

" **Sun Wukong, this is Nora Valkyrie." Lionheart introduced. The two shook hands. "Sun's our field photographer. Nora's our… Nora."**

" **Good to meet ya. What's your background? Wildlife photography?" Nora asked.**

" **Wildlife, Grimm, combat, you name it." Sun said as he opened the back of the van and began unloading his gear. "When I was with Haven, I was in Shion, Kuroyuri, all over Vacuo. Do some volunteer work with Greenpeace every once in a while."**

" **Greenpeace?" Nora said, confused, "What drew you there?"**

 **Sun looked at him with a grin. "Women. 80% female, Greenpeace."**

"Sounds more like something you'd do, Neptune." Sun said, trying to deflect Blake's angry look.

"I would never!" Neptune said, trying to deflect Weiss' angry look.

" **Ah, how noble of you." Nora deadpanned.**

" **Yeah, well, noble was last year." Sun said, grabbing a few duffels, slinging one over his shoulder and closing up the van. "This year I'm getting paid. Ozpin's check cleared, or I wouldn't be going on this wild goose chase."**

" **Uh, where you're going is the only place in the world where the geese chase you." Nora said. She liked this guy. He had some good banter.**

" **Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!" caused Nora to turn and see a teenage girl with black hair done up in twin-tails with pink streaks running down them and her own turquoise eyes running up to her. She smiled and scooped the girl up into a hug.**

"Is that…" Jaune asked quietly.

"I do believe it is." Pyrrha answered.

"The features are all his, except…"

"The eyes, yeah. All hers."

"How old do you think?"

"Middle school? Maybe early high school?"

"SHE'S PERFECT!" Nora yelled, absolutely gushing over the girl she knew in her gut to be hers and Ren's daughter. "Oh, God, Ren she looks just like you! She even has those adorable little streaks in her hair!"

"But it's only been four years since the first movie." Ren said, trying to logic everything he knew together. "That would have to mean."

" _Yours and Ms. Valkyrie's doppelgangers knew each other before the events of the movie, yes. Mr. Arc, do you remember Ms. Valkyrie saying she as many children as she did exes?"_

"Yeah. Oh. Oh…"

" _There it is."_

" **Haha! Ah, Rin, my honey! You found the place. What took you so long?" she asked her daughter as she put her back down.**

" **Sorry, I couldn't find a cab." Rin said as she hugged her mother again.**

" **Ah, that's fine. Look, baby, I gotta tell you something."**

" **I don't even know this woman." Rin sighed, swinging around the swivel chair she sat in across from the desk her mother was leaning against in the upstairs office.**

" **What are you talking about? It's Arslan, you've known her for ten years."**

" **She doesn't even have PS4! She's such a troglodyte."**

" **Cruel, but good word use." Nora chuckled.**

"More like accurate word use." Ruby said with a little disgust. "PlayStation for life!"

"What? Piss off. Xbox is far superior." Sun argued.

"As a glorified entertainment system, sure. But as a gaming console? It's not even a contest."

"You guys are just adorable." Pyrrha said, as a proud member of the PC Master Race.

"Can we please focus on my perfect child please?" Nora said, annoyed.

" **Why can't I stay with Penny?" Rin asked, getting up from the chair and walking across the office to another one. Rin liked Penny. She was weird, but that made her fun.**

" **Uh, because Penny is out of town. But, Arslan's fantastic. She said she'll take you horseback riding, to the movies, you're gonna have a fantastic time." Nora was really pushing it trying to sell Rin on it. not happening.**

" **Stop saying fantastic. Where are you going anyway?"**

" **It's only for a few days, but I swear to you, I wouldn't be going if it wasn't really important."**

" **I'm your daughter all the time you know, you can't just abandon me whenever opportunity knocks."**

 **Nora wilted at that. "Gee, that's hurts my feelings. Your dad tell you to say that?"**

"What am I doing?" Nora said, wilting along with her on-screen counterpart.

"The hardest part of being a parent." Summer said, "Telling your child what they don't want to hear, in order to protect them."

" _ **Dr. Valkyrie, downstairs, please."**_ **Lionheart said over the P.A.**

' **Not now.' Nora thought. "Look, sweetie, I know we've had some hard spots, but over the last few years I feel like we've started to work things out. Hasn't it been better?"**

" **Yeah, but I want you to crack down on me a little bit. Ground me or something. Send me to my room. You never do any of that stuff."**

" **Well, why would I do that? Because you've grown up to be so beautiful, brilliant, powerful, funny, and generous? The queen, the goddess, my inspiration.**

" _ **Dr. Valkyrie!"**_

" **Shut up!" Rin growled at the P.A. before turning back to her mother, "But I could come with you. I could be a research assistant like I was in Argus."**

" **This is nothing like Argus." Nora said, worrying her daughter a little. She only talked like that about one other subject. "Anyway, you have your own stuff going on! You got that gymnastics competition coming up, you've been training for that for months."**

"With that build, I can see her being well-suited for gymnastics." Yang commented.

"Especially if she inherited any of Ren's dexterity." Nora added.

" **Gymnastics? I scrubbed out, mom. They cut me from the team. Thanks for knowing." Rin said, walking away again to lean on a railing overlooking the construction.**

"The entire coaching staff of that school must be purged." Nora said in a low voice.

Summer was physically worried at that. "That's a little bit extreme, dear..."

"Let her have this one, mom." Yang told her mother, "She deserves it and more."

" **Ah, crap. I'm sorry honey, I know how much that meant to you."**

 **Rin turned and looked at Nora. "You like to have kids, but you don't like spending time with them, do you?"**

 **Nora felt her temper boil over at that and she wisely walked out of arm's reach of her daughter before letting it out. "Yeah, well, I'm not the one who dumped you and split for Mistral, so don't take it out on me!"**

" _ **Dr. Valkyrie, downstairs please."**_

 **Nora saw the tears well up in Rin's eyes at the mention of her father. It was a low bow, and Nora knew it. "I'm sorry, honey, I'm sorry." She said as she decided it was time to answer that page. "Hey, you want some good parental advice? Don't listen to me."**

Nora swore to herself there and then, should she ever have children of her own, that she would never be this kind of mother. Never! Now if only Ren would stop being as dense as Jaune and notice her hints already!

 **Nora found Leo by a large cage made of steel tubes and chain-link fencing attached to thick metal cable at each corner.**

" **How's it looking?" Leo asked an engineer inspecting it.**

" **Well, specs say it can't deform at 12,000 psi, so we're just gonna test it." he answered.**

" **Alright, clear out!" Leo yelled out before a winch began lifting the cage.**

" **What is this?" Nora asked, trying to get her mind off breaking her daughter's heart.**

" **It's a high hide." Leo said, but decided to talk louder when Nora pointed at her ear. "A high hide! You know, you go up, and you hide. High. It goes up to tree top level and keeps the researchers out of harm's way."**

" **Actually, it puts them at a very convenient biting height." Nora said, making Leo laugh. "Hey, what time is it?"**

" **Why do you want to know?" Leo asked, neither of them noticing Rin walk by, amazed at all the technology.**

" **We're leaving in three hours."**

 **As Leo and Nora descended in an argument, the camera followed Rin as she walked by the cars and into the open back of the bus. The back end was filled with computers and scientific instruments, designed to be a field laboratory.**

" **This is so cool." She smiled as she moved into the connector, which held a pair of beds on either side. She moved into the front section, which held a common room and the actual driver's section. Just behind the driver's seat, she saw a lit-up map of the western coast of Menagerie, and a group of five islands in the shape of a crescent. The islands were labeled,** _ **Las Cinco Muertes.**_

"So, there's not only the island from the first movie, but also a small archipelago?" Ghira said, wondering if these islands were actually out there and were just uncharted.

" _Fun fact: InGen owns that entire archipelago as part of their Jurassic Park venture."_

 **Nearly a day later, the three cars were loaded onto a boat and sailing toward Isla Sorna. Nora looked out over the edge of the boat and thought back to Jurassic Park. She had thought all that bullshit was behind her, but here she was, jumping back into an even more dangerous fire to try and get her girlfriend to see some fucking sense and listen to her. Beside her, Leo opened a case containing a disassembled gun and a series of long injection darts.**

" **Lindstradt air rifle." He told her. "Custom-made Atlesian design. Fires a subsonic impact delivery dart."**

" **It work any better than your special phone?" Nora asked.**

" **That's funny." Leo fired back as he took out the gun and began assembling it. "I've loaded the darts with the enhanced venom of** _ **Conus Purpurascens**_ **, the South Sea cone shell. The most powerful neurotoxin in the world. It acts within 0.002 seconds, which is faster than the nerve-conduction velocity, so the animal's down before it even feels the prick of the dart."**

"You know, part of me wonders why you would need something like that on a research expedition," Weiss said, "But then another part of me remembers the Raptors from the last movie and is praising their common sense."

"And since it's an air rifle, it doesn't make as much noise as a normal gun, nor does it leave the smell of gun smoke, which makes it perfect for their needs." Winter added. "No interference."

"Except for the dead dino." Qrow reminded her, taking cover behind Taiyang to avoid her retaliatory popcorn barrage.

" **There any antidote?"**

" **For what? If you shot yourself in the foot? Don't do that. You'd be dead before you even realized you had an accident."**

 **Sun approached the pair, arguing rapidly in Faunuspeak with the owner of the boat- who appeared to be a walrus-Faunus if the large handlebar moustache was anything to go off of- and his son.**

" **The guy says he wants to unload at the shore right here." Sun told them, "He's heard too many stories about this island chain, and he wants to drop us off and go anchor somewhere offshore."**

" **What kind of stories?" Nora asked.**

 **Sun asked them in their shared tongue and waited to hear his reply. "Okay, see, he's heard stories of fishermen who came too close to the island and never returned." The captain jumped in quickly. "He's- he's got a radio, he's got a military grade scroll," More Faunuspeak. "When you need him, send the call and he'll be here in two hours… but he will not stay here… he won't stay anywhere near these islands… they call these islands,** _ **Las Cinco Muertes**_ **?" the captain nodded.**

" **Seriously?" Leo asked, looking up from his work.**

" **Yeah." Sun said, "It means the Five Deaths." He told Nora.**

"Hell of a name." Yang said, wondering what had happened for them to have that much reputation.

 **About an hour later, the trio, having found a place overlooking the ocean to make camp, were following a tracker for a location sensor Leo had installed into Penny's scroll.**

" **Reading's get stronger," Leo said, looking at the tracker.**

" **Yeah, I'm so relieved." Nora said, sarcastically.**

" **Stop pushing my buttons, already. It was fun earlier, now you're just getting on my nerves." Leo warned her.**

" **Alright, we're almost on top of her dot. She should be right around here."**

" **Over there." Sun pointed at a bag across the stream from them. He and Nora broke into a run, with Nora sliding on the ground as she got close. She poked her fingers through a hole in the bag and pulled out one of Leo's high-end scrolls.**

" **Penny!" she yelled.**

" **Penny!" Sun yelled out, trying to help.**

" **Penny!"**

" **Penny Polendina!"**

" **H- how many Penny's do you think are on this island?" Nora asked sarcastically. "Pen-!" she half-yelled before she heard the brush near her rustle loudly. She picked up the gun and walked over to where Leo was standing. "What? What is it?"**

"Dino time!" Ruby squealed excitedly.

" **Something big." He whispered back.**

 **Suddenly, a herd of Stegosaurs emerged from the foliage to the right. They were massive four-legged creatures** - **oh who the fuck am I kidding, you all know what a Stegosaur looks like. Nora got flashbacks to Nublar and the Triceratops in the field, while Sun and Leonardo stood in wonder at the creatures from a by-gone era. Suddenly, they heard a groan behind them and rapidly turned to see another Stegosaur shake some dew from its neck as it walked not five feet from them. Sun managed to regain control of his body and began rapidly taking photos.**

"Man, are they beautiful or what?" Ruby said.

"Can you tell me about them?" Summer asked her youngest indulgently.

"Stegosaurus, herbivore from the late Jurassic period. It's name means roofed lizard, because when the first fossils of it's sail plates were found, scientists believed they laid flat on the back, like shingles on a roof."

" **This is, this is magnificent." Leonardo said.**

" **Oh, yeah, 'Ooh, ah'," Nora said, "Yeah, that's how it always starts. And then later there's running and screaming."**

 **Sun tried to get another picture, but couldn't get a good shot. So, he dumped his gear by Leo's feet and walked off to the right, jumping on a fallen tree. It was better, but he still didn't quite feel it, so he jumped onto another one a bit higher up. Perfect.**

 **As Sun began shooting, the camera panned down to show a woman with long orange hair tied up in a ponytail, wearing a tan jacket, green tank top, and tan cargo pants with pink stripes down the side. She lowered her camera to show the face of Penny Polendina, who turned and looked at Sun.**

"Oooh, new hairstyle." Ruby commented. "It suits you."

"Thank you, Ruby, though I will admit I'm not exactly a fan of the outfit." Penny said with a small frown.

"What if it came with rocket boots?"

"Now you are speaking my language!"

" **SALUTATIONS!" she yelled, scaring the hell out Sun, enough so as to make him stumble backwards, making her laugh.**

 **Seeing he had been had, Sun laughed with her. "I guess you got the jump on us here a little bit, didn't you Penny?"**

" **Yeah." She chuckled. Looking up, she saw Nora looking at her seriously. She smiled. "Nora, I never thought in a million years Ozpin would get you to come here." She started laughing again. "Hey, Leo."**

" **Hi, Penny." He said.**

" **You got a granola bar or something? I'm starving!" she walked up to Nora. "Those animals, did you see them? It was a family group. A pair-bond and a sub-adult long after the juvenile was nest bound. Every egg clutch I've seen has got shells crushed and trampled. The hatchlings definitely stay in the birth environment for an extended period of time. That's conclusive! I can put that whole controversy to rest if I can just get a shot of the nest."**

 **Nora simply held up the bag they had found and poked her finger through the hole in it.**

" **Have you been attacked?" she asked.**

" **Oh, no. That's my lucky pack. That's how it always looks." Penny explained.**

" **Okay. Penny- "**

" **Hey, that a Nikon?" Penny asked Sun, walking up to him and asking to borrow the camera. "I'll be right back baby, I promise." She said, walking off.**

"Well, now that the dinos are back in the mix, my interest is peaked." Ruby chirped.

"Surprising no one." Weiss drawled.

"I kinda miss the Nora from the last film." Jaune said. "This one is too dramatic."

"I believe the word you are looking for is traumatized, Vomit Boy." Yang said.

 **Alright, lemme have it. I'm a large, semi-muscular man, I can take it.**

 **But, yeah, instead of aging down one of the actual RWBY characters to play Kelly Malcolm, I decided to go with an OC created by Dishwasher1910. Basically, look up Rin Tohsaka from Fate/Stay Night or Ishtar from Grand Order, add some pink streaks in the twin-tails, and BOOM! That's Rin Valkyrie. This is something of an experiment on my part, to see how my audience responds to OCs.**

 **Also, I will admit that I dropped the ball by not casting Velvet in the Sarah Harding slot. The camera is what gets Sarah in trouble in the next chapter and a camera is Velvet's whole thing! It never occurred to me until a reviewer pointed it out, and now I feel like a huge idiot for not seeing it sooner.**

 **Ah well.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite and leave a Review, and I will catch you later.**


	54. Chapter 54- The Lost World, Part 3

**Not much to talk about up here. RT and AH are still funny as hell, RWBY is great (I'll be expanding more on that down below), the Arrowverse Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover is good so far, DnD is massive fun now that I've gotten into it, and Bray Wyatt/The Fiend continues to be the best part of WWE programming.**

 **Now, on to the chapter.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 54

 **Penny walked along the stream, following the Stegosaurs as she fiddled with the settings on her borrowed camera. Nora's group ran to catch up with her.**

" **Uh, Penny!" Nora yelled ahead, "When Ozpin contacted you, why didn't you say anything to me?"**

" **Cuz I knew you would try to stop me."**

" **I would've tied you to the bed, yeah."**

"Nora, I never knew you had such ideas." Pyrrha teased.

'You have no idea.' The orangette thought to herself with a glance to Ren.

" **I've figured out how the animals are surviving without lysine." Penny said proudly.**

" **I don't care."**

"I do! Been trying to figure that out since the beginning." Ruby said, leaning forward.

 **Penny ignored her. "If you look at the diets of the herbivore species that are thriving, they mostly eat agama beans, soy, basically anything lysine rich. And the carnivores, well they eat the herbivores, so- " a low roar made her stop, and single the others to stop. "Wait, wait. Stay right there. I'll be right back." She smiled as she ran ahead.**

"So, the carnivores get their share of lysine by eating the herbivores. Makes sense."

"True, but because of how much lysine is probably lost in the herbivore," Summer said, "The carnivores probably have to eat multiple herbivores to get enough lysine in their systems, depending on the size of the animal. And the larger predators even more so."

" **Penny, no! No!" Nora yelled, following after her girlfriend.**

 **Penny pointed to a fallen log. "Stay there." she ordered before she left the stream for the cover of the foliage. Downstream was the herd of Stegosaurs, all milling about. Penny crawled through the foliage, keeping low until she came across a juvenile Stegosaur, no bigger than a medium-sized dog, and began taking pictures.**

"Not gonna lie, that's kind of cute." Blake said.

"It is, isn't it?" Weiss agreed.

 **Back with the trio, Sun was taking more pictures, while Leo kept the rifle at the ready.**

" **She is way too close." Nora muttered to herself.**

" **The hell is she doing?" Sun asked.**

" **Too close! Too close!"**

 **Penny reached out her hand toward the juvenile, and began petting its nose. The animal was hesitant at first, but eventually lowered it's head, closed it's eyes and grunted comfortably.**

" **Dammit, she always has to touch. She can't not. Every time." Nora said.**

" **She's going right up to it. Serious stones on her, all I'll say." Sun said.**

 **The juvenile howled loudly, apparently having enough of being petted, and Penny quickly complied.**

" **Is this even possible?" Leonardo whispered.**

" **What, this? Yes!" Nora said, astonished, "What'd you think you were gonna document? What'd you think you were gonna see?"**

" **Animals." Sun said, "Maybe, uh, big iguanas."**

 **Nora sighed. "Fruitcakes."**

"I said it." Nora said proudly, mostly just happy she was the star of the show this time around.

 **Penny lifted her camera to take another picture, but when she did, the camera began making loud whirring sounds that startled the juvenile animal. It howled in alarm, bringing the attention of the adults.**

" **Penny!" Nora yelled.**

"And now I called it." Nora muttered under her breath.

"This is not gonna go well." Sun sighed.

"Run, me!" Penny shouted.

 **Penny looked back, but saw that another adult was cutting off her escape route and headed further into the herd. Nora saw this and jumped the log, but Sun held her back.**

"No, you idiot! Away! Run _away_ from the big spike-tailed dinosaurs!"

" **Shoot 'em!" she ordered Leo, who was aiming the rifle at the animals.**

" **They're just protecting their baby." He said.**

" **So am I!" Nora fired back.**

 **In the nest, Penny was just trying to survive. She ducked as one of the adults took a swing at her with it's spiked tail. She recovered just in time to see another adult charging her, and ran for a hollow log nearby. She made it to the other end just as a pair of spikes shot down into the log right where her feet had been. Peeking out from inside the log, she saw the herd dispersing.**

" **I think we're okay." Leo said, lowering the rifle, "I think they're leaving." Sun let go of Nora, who ran for Penny.**

"Yup. Looks like Penny, acts like Ruby." Yang nodded.

"Too close." Penny sighed, slumping down in her seat,

 **Fifteen minutes later, the quartet were walking back to the campsite, Leo and Sun in the lead, and Nora staying within five feet of Penny at all times.**

" **These images are incredible. Legendary." Sun said, taking out a packet of cigarettes. "Guys shoot their whole life, never get stuff half this good. I mean, you could give me the Pulitzer right now. Competition's over, close the entries. I'd like to thank everyone who lost." He just lit his lighter when he heard Penny yell up behind him.**

"For the record," Sun said aloud, "I do not smoke. I tried it once back in combat school in Vacuo. I swore the stuff off after I nearly hacked up a lung and died."

"What about booze?" Qrow called down.

"I still got a few months left before I'm legal. We can discuss it then."

" **Don't even think about it!" she yelled, "Dinosaurs can pick up scents from miles away. We're here to observe and document, not interact." Sun rolled his eyes as he simply stuck the cigarette behind his ear.**

" **Which, by the way, is a scientific impossibility." Nora said, "The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. Whatever you study you also change, so…"**

" **Yeah, well, I think I'll take my chances. I'm sick of scratching around in rock and bone, making assumptions and deductions about the nurturing habits of animals that have been extinct for 65 million years. Absolutely sick of it. Then you show up and fill my head with stories for four years, so of course I'm gonna come here. What'd you expect?"**

" **I gave you stories of mutilation and death, weren't you paying attention?"**

" **Oh, please! Don't treat me like a grad student. I've worked around predators since I was 20. Lions, jackals, hyenas, you." Nora laughed at that. There was the wit she had fallen for.**

"So, Nora, any thoughts on what to call this pairing?" Yang asked.

"You know, I hadn't thought about it yet. Hmmm."

"How about Lightning Bolts? Or Turbocharge?" Yang suggested before snapping her fingers, "No, wait! I got it: Gingersnaps." _Everyone_ in the theater groaned, even Logan.

"See, I know it's a pun." Nora strained to say, "But I kinda like it."

 **As Sun and Leo neared the campsite, they suddenly stopped.**

 **Leo looked back to Sun. "You smell that?" he asked.**

 **Sun nodded. "Smoke." He took another whiff. "And it's coming from… shit!" he and Leo hauled ass towards the camp, the source of the scent.**

"Thank God for Faunus senses." Nora said.

"You're welcome." Sun joked.

" **Look." Penny said, stepping into Nora's path. "I'm trying to change 100 years of entrenched dogma. Dinosaurs were characterized very early on as vicious lizards. There's a lot of resistance to the idea of them as loving parents. Robert Burke said that the T. Rex was a rogue that would abandon its young at the earliest possible opportunity. I know I can prove otherwise."**

" **Fire!" Leo yelled, "Nora, Penny! Fire, base camp!"**

 **As the pair returned to the campsite, Sun was pulling a container of water from the back of one of the trucks, opening it as he walked and poured some onto the small campfire.**

" **No." Penny said, "Water makes smoke billow. Use dirt." Leo immediately began scooping dirt onto the fire. Fortunately, Nora was there to ask the important questions.**

" **Who started the fire?"**

 **She was immediately answered when Rin opened up the door to the front section of the trailer, wearing a long-sleeve pink shirt, black skirt, stockings and a white apron, and holding a frying pan.**

" **Oh, hi guys." She said sheepishly. "Anybody want eggs?"**

"Grounded." Nora said, her eyes ablaze. "Grounded for ever!"

"And how long is forever, exactly?" Jaune asked. "In my experience, it was about a month and a half or so."

"Dad would usually fold after two or three weeks, depending." Ruby said, looking to Yang, who nodded.

"I was in the White Fang for most of my life." Blake said, "You don't really get grounded, so much as shelved from missions."

 **Later, Sun and Leo were hanging out by one of the cars, enjoying Rin's cooking, while said young lady was getting the ear-beating of a life time.**

" **Do you see any family resemblance there?" Sun asked the older man, who shrugged and made a so-so gesture with his hand.**

" **You practically told me to come here." Rin said as she laid down on the hood of the other car.**

" **What?" Nora said in exasperation as she tried to get the military scroll to work.**

" **You told me, 'don't listen to me.' I thought you were trying to tell something."**

" **Rin, you knew exactly what I meant. You have no idea what you're walking into here."**

" **What're gonna do, Nora? Lock her up for curiosity? Where do you think she gets it from?" Penny said with a grin as she put a few bags in the back of Sun and Leo's truck.**

" **Thank you, Penny." Rin said sincerely.**

" **Hey, don't start the teaming up thing already." Nora said. "Now, Leo, why in the name of Grimm does this thing never work?" she said to Leo as Penny and Rin began talking about how Rin had stowed away without getting noticed.**

" **Look, you're not on a land line, here. You have to wait for a decent signal." Nora vented her frustrations by making sure the device was secured in the transmitter case.** _ **Very**_ **secured. "Violence and technology, not good bed fellows." Leo added.**

"He speaks the truth." Neptune said.

"Maybe so, but my way makes me feel better." Nora said.

" **The kind of documentation Ozpin wants puts you and your equipment in the field as close to the animals as safely possible." Penny said, getting ready to brief them.**

" **Yeah, while you're at it, why not smear your self with a little sheep's blood?" Nora added, "How about this, is there any reason to think the radio in the trailer will work?" she asked Leo.**

" **Well, you know, if you feel qualified at all, you could just flick the switch to 'on'." He said with a shrug.**

"Wow, this is not the same Leo we knew." Glynda commented.

"Indeed." Ozcar agreed, "The absolute sass on this man…"

" **Alright, look, guys, I'm getting my daughter out of here. If any of you want out, now's the time to say so."**

" **So listen, when you're out in the field," Penny started talking over her girlfriend.**

 **So that's how she wants to play, huh? Well, Nora was a master at that game. "Sun, if you're staying, I'll be more than happy to deliver a letter to your wife, or a loved one. Give you a chance to say goodbye. Or Leo, if you have any personal effects of any kind, it's the least I can do. You guys know where to find me." Nora said, walking around the back of the car, Rin in tow.**

" **Our presence needs to be 100% antiseptic." Penny said, following after her, "If we so much as bend a blade of grass, we could- " she was cut off when Nora slammed the door behind her.**

" **Mom, are you mad?" Rin asked.**

" **No, I'm not mad, I'm furious!" she said, as she looked around the rear cabin. "Well, this looks like your handiwork." She commented, gesturing at the mess.**

" **I was gonna clean it up."**

" **Right now!" she ordered, and Rin quickly ran for a trash can and got to work. "Gods damn it, there's like a gazillion switches here."**

 **Penny entered the trailer, knowing she could calm Nora down. "Nora, don't be mad. I was going to call you in a day or two to let you know where I was. I always do. You know I'm the best kind of girlfriend there is: the kind who travels a lot. You know you like that. You love your independence."**

" **Admittedly," Nora sighed, "I've gotten used to our relationship, but that doesn't mean that's how I want to live. Uh, Rin, honey, this is… tall-talk, could you just… you know, for a few minutes?"**

 **Rin rolled her eyes and moved closer to the beds. "It's like a height restriction at an amusement park." She muttered. 'And you're not much taller than me in any case!'**

" **If you wanted to rescue me from something," Penny said, helping Rin with clean-up, "Why didn't you bail me out of that fund raiser at the museum three weeks ago, like you said you would?"**

"Are we actually doing this right now?" Nora said.

"Yes. Yes we are." Penny said smugly.

" **Uh, this is somewhat different circumstances, don'tcha think?" Nora said, not wanting to admit she had a point.**

" **Or what about that dinner with your parents that you never showed up for? Why not rescue me when I really it? Actually be there, when you say you will? I mean, I have made a career out of waiting for you."**

" **You know, Mom," Rin said, "Penny has a pretty good- "**

" **It is so important to your future that you don't finish that sentence." Nora said quickly, "Now, outside, please."**

"Smart kid." Qrow chuckled.

"Damn right she is if she's Ren's kid." Nora said.

 **Rin started towards the door, but stopped in the entrance when Penny walked up to Nora. "Nora, come on, look." She said, pushing Nora into a chair, "I love that you rode in here on a white horse. I really do. It very touching, very dramatic. Very you. I just need you to show up in a cab every once in a while, too."**

" **Woah, woah, Rin, what are you doing?" Nora cried when she heard the door opening. "Don't go out there, it's not safe. Get in here. Shut the door."**

 **Penny sighed and put her hands on her hips. "Okay, I know what I'm doing. You guys should definitely go. But I'm gonna stay. I love you, I just don't… need you right now."**

" **Uh, I'll tell you what you need." Nora said, standing back up. "A good anti-psychotic."**

"Maybe we should look into those for Nora." Jaune whispered to Pyrrha.

"I know that was a joke, and you know there is not a treatment in the world that will change that." Pyrrha whispered back with a nod to Pyrrha. "That is genetic."

" **I'll be back in five or six days." Penny protested.**

" **No, you'll be back in five or six** _ **pieces.**_ **"**

" **What bothers you is that I'm not afraid of this place and you are."**

" **Of course I am, that's the whole point! Look, I just- "**

" **What's that sound?" Rin said, standing by one of the rear windows.**

 **Nora and Penny stopped arguing and listened, hearing the low rumble coming from outside. They stepped outside to see a flight of Bullheads coming out from behind the jungle on top of an adjacent cliffside. Most of them carried vehicles and large storage containers beneath them, but a few appeared to be standard transport craft.**

" **Here we go." Nora said, pulling Rin by the wrist behind her. "I'm gonna get you out on one these right now. Hello! Over here!" she waved her free hand trying to get the attention of one of the airships. Meanwhile, Sun was taking pictures and Leo was looking at the craft through a pair of binoculars.**

" **What the hell?" he said, "It says InGen on the side of that Bullhead." Nora looked at him. "I don't get that. Why would Ozpin send two teams?"**

 **Nora, Rin and Penny ran over to him, Nora taking the binoculars from him.**

" **Doesn't he trust us?" Penny said, "We haven't even started."**

 **Nora looked at the military grade Humvee under one of the Bullheads, then followed the wire holding it up to the Bullhead carrying it. It was painted black with the words "InGen" written on it in red.**

"I think I know who's behind that." Said Ruby, a little worried.

"I believe I do as well, Ms. Rose." Ozcar sighed.

 **Not an hour later, the same cars were on the ground and hauling ass across a field. The lead car held a familiar blonde in the back seat.**

" **This is as good a place as any for base camp." Salem said into her radio headset. "That's first priority after we're finished for today. I want it up and running in thirty minutes. Understood?"**

 **The ghillie mesh separating the front and back seats was pulled away to reveal a tiger-eared faunus with dark skin covered in stripe tattoos and piercing red eyes.**

" **Cancel that order." Sienna told Salem.**

" **Why should I?" Salem asked her, eyes narrowed.**

'Did that woman just give me an order?' Salem thought, pausing as she cut into her steak, 'And did I just _allow_ her to?'

" **This is a game trail, Ms. Ozpin, carnivores hunt on game trails. Do you want to set up base camp or a buffet?"**

 **Salem frowned, but saw the sense in what the other woman said and nodded.**

" **Have a scouting party look for potential camp sites. I want at least three alternatives by the time we're finished."**

" **Salem, if you want me to run your little camping trip, there are two conditions. First off,** _ **I'm**_ **in charge, and when I'm not around Corsac is. All** _ **you**_ **have to do is sign the checks, tell us we're doing a good job, and bust open the booze when we have a good day.**

" **Second condition is my fee. You can keep it. All I want in return for my services is the right to hunt one of the tyrannosaurs. A male. A buck only. How and why are my business. Now, if you don't like either of those two conditions, you're own your own. So go ahead, set up base camp right here, or in a swamp, or in the middle of a Rex nest for all I care, for I've been on too many safaris with rich dentists to listen to any more suicidal ideas. Okay?"**

 **Salem sat wide-eyed at this woman who she had personally hired for this job give her an ultimatum, much less orders. Her eyes narrowed and a smile spread across her face. She liked this woman.**

" **Okay." She said, almost chuckling.**

"You okay there, Oz?" Oscar asked Ozpin who had suddenly given him control.

" **Amazing. She made it look so easy…"** the ancient headmaster said to himself.

* * *

 **So, yeah. You guys have been wondering who I would cast as Roland Tembo, and I chose Sienna Khan. Personally, I like Sienna. She was an interesting character who was killed off way too soon, but that actually gives her more versatility in fanfiction. Like Neo in a way. I wanted to include the deleted scene where Ajay recruits Sienna (yes it's a thing, I've seen it) but I decided not to because I didn't know where it fit in the movie. Honestly, it's was fun writing her, and I'm happy with how she turned out.**

 **RWBY SPOILERS AHEAD! NON-FIRST MEMBERS SKIP AHEAD NOW!**

 **Okay, last Saturday's episode really got me. It looked like it would be all happy stuff up until the last five minutes or something. Then BAM! Shit hits the fan at supersonic velocities. This right here, this is how you do a fucking episode.**

 **So, first off, the shipping. First, we get some minor Bumblebee, which I like. Nothing to get too excited over, just something to go 'aw, that's sweet.' Then, some small Nuts and Dolts comedy, always fun. But most importantly of all, RENORA IS A THING! Yes, thank you, Miles and Kerry! This is how you do shipping; don't just tease it, just commit and give an answer in no uncertain terms. I think a good lip lock is pretty damn certain, don't you. Of course, the drawback here, according to previous history, is that there are now small death flags for both Ren and Nora.**

 **But the bit that hit the closest to home for me was the election bit. I like to think most Americans know where I'm coming from when I say fucking election shenanigans. And I'm not talking just Trump here. This shit has been going on for the last few decades, it's just that Trump is the most recent and currently well-known bullshit. Comes to societal commentary, subtle this was not.**

 **RWBY SPOILERS CONCLUDED**

 **Alright, I'm done ranting. I hope you guys liked the chapter.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite, and leave a Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 12/17/19**


	55. Chapter 55- The Lost World, Part 4

**Debating on whether or not I should take the next two weeks off for the holidays.**

 **On with the show.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 55

 **Sienna stood in her seat, her torso poking out of the open roof of her jeep. She only did so because she had her cousin, Ajay Sidhu, the man who had approached her about this job, driving and there was nobody in the world who she trusted more. Behind her, the convoy of trucks chasing a herd of herbivorous dinosaurs, mostly Gallimimus and Parasaurolophus, and other assorted smaller and larger dinosaurs, while a few men on motorcycles sped ahead.**

" **Cycle, break off a stray from the herd and flush him to the right." she ordered into the radio headset she was wearing. "Snaggers, stay ready, he's bringing them out to you." She started flipping through a packet of descriptions of all the dinosaurs on the island. "It'll be a pachy- uh pachya, ah screw it, the fat head with the bald spot. Friar Tuck."**

"Yeah, that's about accurate." Ruby chuckled.

"What dinosaur is he talking about?" Weiss asked her.

"Pachycephalosaurus. Late Cretaceous herbivore. Best known for a piece of bare, solid bone that extends up from its head."

"Okay…"

"You'll see what I mean if it makes an appearance."

 **One of the cyclists sped ahead to find the target, passing by a Parasaurolophus, which roared at him in agitation. Seeing his target, he passed underneath a Diplodocus in order to reach him.**

" **Stop. Stop!" Another mercenary, a human man with long brown hair told his driver. Both men clambered out of the jeep. "Pachycephalosaurus."**

"Okay, now watch."

"I am, Ruby, I am."

" **Carnivore?" the driver said, worried.**

" **What? No, no, herbivore. Late Cretaceous."**

 **The Pachycephalosaur was busy trying to get out of a circle of men and women holding metal and wire lassos while Cycle circled around him. It was about the size of a man, walking on two legs with a beaked mouth and domed, bony head protrusion.**

" **See that distinctive domed skull?" the long-haired man said to his fellow as they crept closer, "Nine inches of solid bone. Now, careful. See, the Pachy's neck attaches at the bottom of its skull, instead of the back of its head, as with reptiles. So, when it lowers its head, it lines up directly with the backbone. Which is perfect for absorbing impact."**

 **To illustrate the point, the Pachy rammed its head into an open car door a man was using as cover. The man tumbled back into the car, nearly falling out the other side, while the Pachy looked at the two men approaching it and growled. Sienna pulled up as the two men were getting the hell out of Dodge.**

" **Snagger, Friar Tuck's on the loose. Just about to cross your path." She said over the radio before signaling Ajay to follow the escapee.**

"Okay, remind me to never mess with one of those." Yang said.

"The more I watch these movies, the more I'm really glad these guys went extinct." Blake said.

"And that there aren't any Grimm around like them." Coco added.

'Interesting. Looks like I have some research and development to do when I return to my castle.' Salem thought to herself.

 **At her word, a specially designed truck pulled up. It was based on the standard military Humvee, but was modified to have a large open-topped cage in the back, extending firing seats on either side, and a large folding metal fork on the front. As it approached the Pachy, the seats were pushed out, with men armed with lassoes sitting in each. One of them managed to loop his line around the Pachy's neck and let him run ahead. In the back, a man with another air rifle fired a dart at the Pachy, while the man next to him started to real their prey in. The truck came to a stop as the wire pulled taught and the Pachy tried to escape. Another pair of Trappers looped lines around the Pachy's neck on either side to hold it in place as the metal fork unfolded and held the helpless dinosaur in place.**

 **Meanwhile, Nora's group sat on a rock formation overlooking the valley. Sun ran ahead and placed a small sonic dish to pick up sound better for his recording, while the rest of the team and Rin looked out over the valley as dinosaurs ran across the plains, motorcycles mixed among them and cars and trucks chasing after them.**

" **Corsac, get in the outrigger." Sienna ordered as she lifted up the door to her jeep and leaned out a bit. "You're coming up on a carnia…"**

" **Say again, Sienna, say again, a what?" a man in the passenger seat of another car asked over the radio.**

"God, not this guy again." Sun groaned.

"I sense a story behind that disgust." Neptune said with a raised eyebrow.

"He was a part of the White Fang presence on Menagerie." Sun explained. "Him and his brother were kind of ambassadors to Blake's dad. It's kind of a long story, but the abridged version is that shit hit the fan, his brother died and he is in prison as far as I know."

"You left out the part where they led an assassination attempt on my parents." Blake said with a scowl at the screen.

"And set the house on fire." Ilia added.

"Hey, I said abridged version, didn't I?" Sun said in his defense. "And didn't you guys start the fire?"

"No, you're remembering that wrong, right Ilia?"

"Umm…." Ilia hesitated under the glance from Blake and the glares coming from her parents.

 **Sienna just tossed her packet out the window. "The one, the one with the big red horn. The pompadour! Elvis!"**

" **Ha! Take me out Carter." Corsac said to his driver. He tightened the straps on his harness as Carter pressed a button on the dash and Corsac's seat moved out of the car beneath him. When it was fully extended, he shouldered his rifle, took aim at the nearest Parasaurolophus and fired. The mighty beast roared in pain and broke off from the pack, letting him know he had hit it. "Okay, bring me in, Carter."**

 **When he had been brought back in, the car stopped, and Corsac exited to oversee the capture. He was a tall man with sharp features and a ball cap on, the only clue of his Faunus heritage being a grey wolf's tail poking out of his pants. It swayed behind him as he shouted out orders to the Trappers.**

" **Go for the legs! The legs! Watch the tail!"**

 **Sienna's car pulled up, the lady herself exiting along with Salem, who watched in amazement as the Trappers worked. The Parasaur roared as it reared up, taking the two men who had ropes around its neck with it. they tumbled as they hit the ground, another pair of men taking their ropes from them. What the dinosaur didn't notice was the woman who had run a rope around the front of its feet. As it roared once more, the trappers pulled its feet out from under it, making the beast come crashing down.**

 **From their perch, Nora's group watched with sorrow and disgust.**

"So, what's the endgame here?" Weiss wondered aloud. "They go to all this trouble to capture dinosaurs, but why? What's the goal?"

"To start another park, of course." Nora said, obviously.

"Where? They can't really do it on this island. Construction would be a nightmare with all the dinosaurs still running around. And I doubt they would do it on another island after what happened on the first one."

"Then the most logical option is to do it on the mainland." Jaune concluded. "At least that way they have more room to evacuate to if things go sideways. It would just have to be set up away from major settlements."

 **As the day wound down, Ajay called Sienna over to the tree line. When she approached, she saw a massive three-toed footprint, easily as large as her entire torso. She looked to Ajay who simply shrugged.**

" **Burke!" she called out. The man with the long hair and flannel clothes looked up. "Come here." He ran over to her and looked down at the print. "Do you recognize this track way?"**

" **Yes, I do." He said, "Tyrannosaur."**

 **Sienna looked to Ajay and smiled. She walked back to her car and began putting together an elephant gun. She was just finishing up when Salem rolled up.**

" **Ah, Sienna." She said genially as she got out of her car. Sienna didn't respond as she pulled out a long metal whip, strapped it to her waist and walked off. "Excuse me! Where do you think you are going?" Salem said as she stormed after the impudent Faunus woman.**

" **To collect my fee, Ms. Ozpin." She said with a vicious smile, "To collect my fee." Salem accidentally stepped in a muddy puddle while following Sienna. She looked down and saw her boot in the middle of the T. Rex footprint and put the pieces together.**

"Still not used to that." Ozcar shuddered at the name.

"Ah, suck it up ya big, immortal baby." Qrow jeered. "I got Mom of the Year for a sister but you don't see me bellyaching about it."

 **Meanwhile, Corsac took out his canteen and poured the contents on the back of his head, allowing the refreshing chill of the water to run down the sides of his face, onto his back and chest. He heard a loud chirping near him and looked down to see another of the small green dinosaurs from the beginning of the film. He pulled out a collapsible cattle prod as Burke ran up to him.**

" **Oh my God! Procompsognathus triassicus. Found by Frass in Mantle in 1913." He said excitedly as he pulled out a journal from his satchel.**

"Ha, I was close! Got the family group right, at least." Ruby cheered.

"Tell us about it then." Blake said, "Is it an accurate replica?"

"Hmm, it looks like it. Procompsognathus was a pretty small boy, about ten inches tall at the hips, and weighing only a couple pounds."

"And we can assume it's a pack hunter, based off what we saw in the beginning, right?"

"I would rather _presume._ " Weiss corrected. "Presumption is a supposition based on probability, while an assumption is one without evidence."

"NERD!" Yang and Coco said together.

" **Is it dangerous?" Corsac asked.**

" **Uh, no, I wouldn't think so." Burke said with a shake of his head. "The Compy has mostly been presumed to be scavengers, like jackals."**

" **It weirds me out." Corsac said with a smile. "It's like it's not scared."**

 **Burke shrugged. "There've been no visitors to this island. It has no reason to fear man."**

 **Corsac gave it a shock with the cattle prod and the Compy shot off into the foliage, screeching in pain.**

" **Now it does."**

"What the fuck, man?" Ruby yelled indignantly.

 **Sienna and Ajay crept through the jungle, following the trail left by the footprints, guns at the ready. The trail led them to an isolated clearing littered with bones and half-eaten corpses, occupied by a single small dinosaur that was currently tearing into a side of meat.**

" **It's the Rex nest." Sienna whispered. "That infant's probably only a couple weeks old. Never left the nest." The infant tyrannosaur tore off a piece of meat and looked up at the pair. It sniffed a little, but apparently sensed no threat as it returned to eating.**

"Weirdly enough, it looks kinda cute." Weiss said.

"Did Zwei just find his replacement?" Yang teased.

"You bite your tongue, heathen!" Weiss teased right back. She loved that mangy, flea-bitten mutt too much to ever, ever replace him.

"My little sister has certainly changed since going to Beacon." Winter mused aloud, now sitting with the rest of the parents since Taurus had left.

 **Sienna looked behind her. "Offspring that young, parents won't leave him alone for too long."**

" **So, build the blind here, wait for the buck to return?" Ajay asked.**

" **No." Sienna said, "No. The nest is upwind, and so are we. When he comes back, he's gonna know we're here without us even having a chance. No, the trick is to get him to come where we want him."**

"That sounds like something they should teach at Beacon." Jaune said, "As far as I can tell, we just use our own styles to beat the enemy into submission. No larger tactics ever employed."

"Why bother?" Coco asked. "If the dumbasses are gonna charge at a woman wielding a mini gun in her purse, why stop them?"

"You're more the exception than the rule, Coco." Velvet said.

"Traitor." Coco grumbled.

 **That evening, the infant tyrannosaur lay in the middle of the nest, tied down by ropes and howling into the night. Nearby, Sienna and Ajay sat in a tree, guns in hand and ghillie cloth draped over their shoulders. Sienna glanced back in the direction of their new camp before returning to the task at hand.**

 **Salem's camp was bustling, with men and women walking about doing evening chores, or helping to set up a mobile CCT connection, while others were throwing food into the cages that held the day's catches. Nora's group watched from the cover of a nearby ridge next to a waterfall.**

" **So, this is why Ozpin was in such a rush to get you guys here." Nora said, "He knew they were coming."**

" **I'll give them this, they are well-organized." Leonardo said, "Those are some major league toys."**

" **Yeah, maybe I should ask to use their phone. Their dish is bigger than yours."**

" **So, these people wanna build another park here?" Rin asked, still confused about everything, "Even after what you said happened at the other island?"**

" **They're not building anything." Nora said, "They're taking these animals out of here, back to the mainland."**

"Pick up that phone, cuz I called it." Jaune cheered.

" **Uh, guys," Sun said as he started rooting through his bag, "I think I should tell you that Ozpin told me these people might show up. He figured we'd be done by the time they got started, but in case that plan fell through, he did send a back-up plan."**

" **What back-up plan?" Penny asked.**

" **Me." He said, taking apart a hand-held bolt cutter and stowing it in his vest.**

"Oh, I like it when people are ominous like that." Sun said with a grin.

"I think we can all agree that Blondie's people are about to have a _very_ bad night." Neptune said with a grin of his own.

 **Down in the camp, Salem was making a business proposal by video. She was pacing around a well-lit tent, in the middle of which was a diorama of a coliseum. In the back corners were poster board pictures of concept art for the stadium diorama, and off to one side were a pair of cages each housing a compy. As she spoke, she started to gain more of an audience from around the camp.**

" **Simply put, InGen is seeking limited partners to defray some of our expansion costs." She said, pacing around with a filled champagne glass in hand. "The prospectus you've been given by the board explicitly details our projected hardware and construction expenses and, as you can see by my two friends here, the software is already fully-developed." She knelt by the Compy cages and they growled at her. "Pardon my pun, but one could say that it is 'up and running.'" She stood back up. "In a moment, I'll take you on a stroll through the camp, and you'll see some of the larger, more impressive specimens."**

"The way she's making that pitch triggers me greatly." Weiss said with a shiver.

"Why's that?" Ruby asked, concerned.

"Reminds me too much of my father, all cold and calculated like that."

"She taught me everything I know." Cinder said coolly, so that only the back row could hear.

 **Unbeknownst to all, Sun and Penny crept into the camp no problem and took cover by the nearby cage holding a Stegosaur. It howled at their presence, so they quickly walked around to the front of the cage and pulled out the deadbolt holing it closed.**

" **You don't bring people half-way around the world to visit a zoo." Salem scoffed. "You bring the zoo to them, and Attika is the perfect site. Despite not experiencing a Grimm attack since the Great War, the city maintains a strong, professionally trained militia and has a long legacy of churning out some of the greatest Huntsmen and Huntresses in Vale's history, the Arc family first and foremost among them."**

"I'm starting to wonder why my hometown keeps showing up or getting mentioned in these movies." Jaune said, eyes narrowing.

" _It is a mystery even to me, Mr. Arc."_

 **Penny and Sun worked quickly, hopping from cage to cage and opening them quietly. A baby Triceratops here, the Pachycephalosaurus next, then a baby Stegosaur- perhaps the very one Penny had interacted with earlier that day. They took their time when they came across a fully-grown Triceratops, who huffed into the dirt when they approached, spreading dust everywhere. Sun took out his bolt cutters and told Penny to stand back while he broke the lock.**

" **My foolish brother knew this," Salem said, continuing her pitch, "And before he ever dreamt of an island, began construction on an amphitheater near the coast, at the InGen Waterfront Complex. But, he abandoned it, as he often does, in favor of something far grander and, ultimately, impossible. And so, the facility sits, unused, unfinished, when it could be completed, and ready to receive visitors in less than a month."**

 **Supposedly, the Triceratops didn't like that, because he/she burst through the back of the tent and flipped over the car that housed all the radio equipment, sending everything flying and the people scattering. It then turned around and charged back out of the camp, clearing the way for several Compys, a Parasauralophus, a Gallimimus, and the Pachy. All the while, Corsac watched as explosions went off and fires spread. One such explosion sent a wrecked car flying.**

"Well, that went from zero to super-sonic in a hurry." Sun chuckled.

"What'd I tell ya? A very bad night." Neptune shook his head.

"It was at this moment, that guy knew, he fucked up." Weiss said in attempt at a joke.

"Fuckin' beat me to it." Yang chuckled.

 **Sienna heard the explosion and looked back to see the fire. Looking up, she saw the car incoming on their hide.**

" **Ajay, look out! Jump!" she yelled before she and Ajay jumped from the tree, guns in hand and rolled to the sides in time for the car to fall at the base of the tree, right where they had been standing.**

 **Meanwhile, Sun had heard the baby Rex crying in the nest. He waited until Sienna and Ajay had left before he ran up to the baby. He saw the state it was in and decided to free it and try to help it.**

 **Back at the camp, Corsac was hauled to his feet by a pair of hunters, eyes locked with Sienna as he rose. He shrugged off the hunters and swallowed a lump in his throat.**

" **That's the last time I leave you in charge." Sienna said, her voice ice cold as she and Ajay moved past him to help restore order to the camp.**

 **Near a small river, Penny waited in the moonlit darkness for Sun. She heard movement from the water behind her and turned to see Sun emerge from the river.**

" **Sun." she said, walking up to him. then she saw the baby Rex wailing in his arms. "Oh my God. Are you out of your mind?"**

" **Shh! He's got a broken leg." He said hurriedly. "Let's get him in the car before they hear us."**

" **Are you out of fucking mind? Do you have any idea what that is!?"**

" **Just quiet down and open the door."**

" **You're insane!" she said, as she opened the door. As Sun tried to get the baby situated in the back seat, Penny looked in the direction of their camp. "Ah, man. Nora's not gonna like this."**

"Only if it endangers my daughter in any way. Or upsets her at all." Nora said, though her team knew the unspoken threat and promise those words held.

* * *

 **Phew! This was an interesting one to write. In my initial draft, I wrote decided to keep the original Dieter character, since I couldn't figure anyone expendable enough to replace him. Then, I'm going through it again, adding in the dialogue, and it occurs to me, 'that's right, one of those guys fits the bill. they seem like guys Sienna would trust in a limited capacity, and I don't like them very much anyway.' So, now when I'm writing dialogue, I have to remember to change every mention of Dieter to Corsac.**

 **As for the latest RWBY episode, the only thing I really have to say about it is that I think Yang and Blake made the right call in bringing Robyn in on Amity.**

 **In more mainstream news, I'm going into Star Wars 9 with rather subdued expectations. Personally, the sequel movies have been 50-50. Episode 7 was good, even if it was almost beat-for-beat Episode 4, and Rogue One was a great tie-in movie. However, Last Jedi was enjoyable, but the absolute toxicity that followed it greatly diminished it, and Solo was just something that shouldn't have happened. It kind of ruined Han's character for me, getting rid of some of the mystique that was such a great part of his character. Hopefully, when they decide to make new movies in the future, Disney will dip into that Extended Universe they nuked. Imagine what they could do with a series of Old Republic movies. Like, seriously, give us a KotoR movie!**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite, and leave a Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **EDIT: shout out to alert reader axel100 for alerting me to a few missed Dieters, which have been rectified. Thanks man!**

 **Next Update: TBD, possibly as late as 1/7/2020**


	56. Chapter 56- The Lost World, Part 5

**Hey guys! Hope you all had a good winter holiday of choice. Mine was a little different from past years in that we opened our presents on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day. My mother said it was "So European of us." Whatever the hell that means. I also started a new character in DnD Adventurer's League, and he already has +1 Plate armor after only one session. I kitted this guy out for DPS, but he might actually become more tanky than our primary Tank, if he doesn't know his shit.**

 **All in all, it was a good break from the grind that allowed me to put out a new chapter of Wolves of Remnant, but I am ready to get back into this groove right here. Let's get back to it!**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 56

"I'm fucking serious guys." Nora said, "If anything, and I mean _anything_ happens to my daughter, there is not a Goodwitch in the multiverse that can save you from me."

"She will make a great mother someday." Summer said with a smile.

"I agree." Kali said.

" _I believe the Glynda Goodwitch of Remnant-616 would fight you on that, Ms. Valkyrie."_

"Bring it the fuck on, Wolf Guy!" Nora said threateningly.

"What makes that me an exception?" Glynda asked, genuinely curious.

" _Nothing really, aside from her titles of Sorceress Supreme and Mistress of the Mystic Arts. And the fact that she is as powerful as one of your Maidens. Although, unlike Ms. Fall and Raven Branwen, who stole their powers, and Ms. *static*, who will inherit the powers of the Winter Maiden by virtue of being the only person allowed to interact with her, the Sorceress Supreme earned her power through hard work and patient study."_

"Just bring it." Nora said.

 **With order restored to the hunter camp, Corsac called a small meeting with Salem and Sienna to show them something he had found, thinking it his ticket back into Sienna's good graces. They all congregated next to one of the cages, which Corsac was leaning against, looking at what he had found. As Sienna walked up, he handed her one of the padlocks to the cages. She frowned as she looked at it, but then noticed that it had been broken. And not just broken, cut. Cleanly, right above the actual lock.**

 **Sienna looked to Corsac with wide eyes, asking a silent question, which he nodded at. Every lock he had found on the ground was broken in exactly the same fashion.**

" **What's going on?" Salem said, out of breath.**

" **Isn't it obvious?" Sienna said, fury building in her voice as she showed the lock to Salem. "We're not alone on this island."**

"Did Salem really not anticipate that?" Winter wondered aloud, "Did she really think Ozpin would simply roll over and play along, knowing what she had planned?"

'One of the upsides of being immortal, I suppose.' Salem thought, as she dug into a plate of baby back ribs, 'Having the time to think over every angle and possible outcome, no matter how ridiculous, and come up with a possible counter.'

 **About the time the Trike was violently cutting off Salem's business pitch, Nora and Rin entered the back end of the trailer. Nora looked at the radio, not knowing what the hell she was doing.**

" **Okay, what now?" she said aloud. Rin pushed past her and opened one of the drawers below the radio, pulling out a large red envelope. She had been stuck in the trailer long enough to explore a bit and know where things were.**

" **Look here." Rin said, handing her mother the packet. Nora smiled at her daughter, her fury abated over the long hours since her discovery, replaced by a motherly desire to get her out of danger.**

"That's my girl, the problem solver." Nora said proudly.

"And the trouble maker." Jaune added, "Just like her mother."

"That's my girl."

 **Out in the jungle, Leo had set up the high hide alongside one of the main paths that led to their camp and was testing the response time of the remote, activating it to go up, then stopping it, then activating it again to make it go down, rise and repeat until he got a fair approximation of what he was dealing with. As he was testing it, Penny and Sun's car roared past, the wailing of the baby Rex audible as they drove past.**

" **What the hell was that?" he said.**

 **Back in the trailer, Nora had gotten the radio working with no small amount of help from Rin.**

" **Okay, it should be right here. Hello?" she said as she set the frequency.**

" _ **Hola?"**_ **a female voice said over the radio in a Vacuan dialect of Faunuspeak.**

" **Uh, hola." Nora replied.**

" _ **Buenos dias."**_ **Rin said, fluent in the lady's language.**

" _ **Enrique?"**_ **the lady said, before speaking more Faunuspeak.**

" **Uh, no, not Enrique. This is Nora Valkyrie, are you on the boat?"**

" _ **Enrique?"**_ **the woman said, sounding angry.**

" **No, is this the boat?"**

 **More Faunuspeak.**

" **Uh, we're on Isla Sorna. We need to talk to the boat,** _ **Mar del Plata,**_ **ma'am."**

"Ugh, I hate foreign languages. They make my brain hurt." Nora complained.

"It's not that bad." Jaune said.

"Maybe for you brainy types, but it's always a pain to learn them for me. I can never keep the translations straight and it's like every word has a million different ways to say them dependent on a dozen different factors. Just thinking about it is giving me a headache."

"Well, I guess it's a good thing that Remnant Common is a thing then, huh?" Pyrrha said, rubbing her sister's back.

 **Sun and Penny pulled up next to the trailer and stopped. Sun jumped out of the driver's seat and ran to the rear passenger door that Penny had open for him.**

" **I'll get him." he told Penny, who ran to the trailer and opened the rear door, seeing Nora and Rin standing there.**

" **Boy is she mad at you." Rin told her mom, underplaying the absolute bile the lady on the radio had been spewing at them for the past five minutes.**

" **I feel sorry for that guy Enrique." Nora replied, seeing the door open and Penny come in, soaked from head to toe.**

" **Nora, no lectures, please." Penny said as she moved in quickly. "Rin, please, honey, get behind me." Rin complied soon enough for Sun to haul the baby Rex inside. "Hold him steady, I'll get the table."**

" **Watch the head." Sun warned as the baby tried to get a bite on him, only to miss by several inches. Penny quickly wheeled a medical table to the back of the trailer and turned on the attached lamp. As Sun set the baby on the table and quickly clamped his hands over it's snout, Penny turned on a machine and began to scan the baby's injured leg.**

" _ **Enrique?"**_ **the radio said, alerting Nora to the situation she had just left. Personally, she didn't know which was worse; having an injured infant dinosaur not five from her, or a furiously mad Faunus woman who didn't understand her.**

" **Gods, Lady, shut up! Wrong frequency." She said as she turned the knob to another frequency. As her mother worked, Rin watched Sun and Penny handle the baby Rex.**

Nora's grip on her armrests tightened as she continued to watch.

'The fuck did I just say?' she thought to herself.

" **Watch it, Sun. Don't let him get those things around you." Penny warned, nodding to the teeth as she made some adjustments to the machine.**

" **Already on it." Sun said as he undid his belt and fashioned a make-shift muzzle from it.**

" **Alright, let's take a look here." Penny said breezily to try and calm the situation. She watched the screen as she worked. "Okay, so, we've got the metatarsels, the tibia, fibia, ah! There's the fracture, right above the epiphysis."**

" **How bad?" Sun asked as he struggled to keep the infant's head from moving around too much.**

" **Bad enough." Penny replied, opening a medical bag. "If we don't set this, this baby's gonna die. It won't heal straight, and he won't be able to pivot on his ankle. He won't be able to walk, let alone run. A predator will pick him off before he's even a few weeks old."**

'Sounds right to me.' Summer hummed.

 **Between the insanity with the baby, and her mother yelling into the radio, Rin finally couldn't take it anymore and turned to her mother.**

" **Mom, I wanna get outta here, I wanna go." She pleaded.**

"Alright, that tears it!" Nora said, rising from her seat.

"Nora, stop. Please." Ren said, grabbing her elbow.

"But, Ren~!" she whined.

"Nora, we can all see she is my daughter as well." Ren said, channeling his Semblance into her. "If you think I'm not angry beyond all belief about this, think again." Nora sat back down, a little surprised at her not-so-secret crush. "But let's see how this plays out before you unleash on the others."

" **I'm working on it, I'm calling the boat." Nora said.**

" **No, I wanna go someplace else, please." She pleaded, looking back at the baby Rex. "I want to be somewhere safe."**

" **Isn't it safe here, honey?"**

" **No, no, I wanna be somewhere high."**

 **A few minutes later, Nora and Rin met Leo at the high hide. She had given Leo a head's up they were coming.**

" **So, want to tell me what the hell's going on?" he asked Nora.**

" **You're much happier not knowing." Nora replied as Leo activated the winch and the hide began to rise, Rin muttering to herself about how stupid she was for coming up with an idea so colossally stupid. Nora couldn't help but smile inside, glad that she didn't have to scold her daughter for this one. 'I suppose experience really is the best teacher.'**

"And now she is safely away from the immediate danger." Ren said, holding his childhood friend's hand. "Thanks to you."

"Fine, they get a stay of execution." Nora grumbled.

 **Back in the trailer, the situation was much the same.**

" **Can you set it?" Sun asked as he tried to keep the Rex's head steady.**

" **Yeah, I just need something temporary." Penny said as she filled a needle with anesthetic. "Something that will break apart and fall off as he grows."**

" **Well, whenever you're ready. He's fighting here, Dr. Quinn."**

 **Back at the hide, the trio had reached the tree tops with a clang. As expected, it was difficult to make out anything beyond the canopy.**

 **Nora turned to Leo, who was making checks on the integrity of the cage. "Leo, what's the frequency for the boat?"**

" **15888, pre-set number 3." He replied.**

" **Got it." she turned back to Rin and adopted a soothing tone. "Okay, he we are, and this is the safest place you can be. Remember what Penny said earlier? These trees make it so the animals won't even know you're here."**

" **You're just trying to make me feel better." Rin said angrily, "I remember all those stories you told."**

" **Okay, guilty as charged, but to be fair, we're in a completely different situation here." The roar of a Tyrannosaur echoed across the valley, drawing the attention of all three. Calmly, Nora turned off the lantern hanging from the roof of the cage. "Leo, is there any way to contact the trailers?"**

"Um, Ruby, what's the average height of an adult T. Rex?" Nora asked.

"Most adults average between 12-20 ft. You guys look to be about 30 ft off the ground, so you should be safe." Ruby replied, feeling the same worry as Nora.

 **Without looking away from where the roar came from, Leo handed her a phone.**

 **The phone rang in the trailer as Penny and Sun continued working.**

" **He's moving again, give him more morphine." Sun suggested.**

" **No," Penny argued, "We have no idea what his metabolism is. Too much will kill him." Sun heard the phone and moved to answer it. "Sun, I need your hand over here. Give me some pressure right here."**

" **No answer. What a surprise." Nora said, frustrated. "How do I get down from here?"**

 **Without missing a beat, Leo handed her a climbing belt. "Put this on." He said as he grabbed a rope.**

" **Mom, where are you going?" Rin asked, alarmed.**

" **Take this rope and squeeze it. Hard." Leo said, trying to be heard over Rin's pleading. "The harder you squeeze, the slower you fall. You don't squeeze at all…"**

" **Splat. I get it." Nora said as she was hooked up.**

" **Mom, please."**

 **Nora got on her knees and looked at her daughter. "Honey. The queen? The goddess?"**

" **Your inspiration?" Rin finished for her.**

" **Now you're talking. Alright," Nora climbed over the railing and leaned back from the cage. "I'm coming right back. I give you my word."**

" **But you never keep your word!" Rin said, slamming her fist against the railing.**

 **Nora didn't have a come back for that, so she figured she would just have to prove her wrong. She jumped off the cage and rapidly fell toward the ground. She squeezed the rope as hard as she could, but the rain made it slick, and I think you can figure out the rest from there.**

 **Leo and Rin watched as Nora sped toward the ground and landed with an audible thud.**

" **Well, personally, I would have squeezed just a little harder." Leo said in hindsight.**

"Why didn't I just jump?" Nora said. "If Huntsmen are a thing in this universe, then it stands to reason that Aura is too. My Aura could have tanked the impact no problem."

"What if she doesn't have Aura?" Ren said.

"Fair point, but after the shit that happened in the first movie, I think I would have unlocked it about then."

"If you unlocked it then, then you wouldn't have had a broken leg the entire second half of that movie." Jaune pointed out.

"You're also assuming that this world works the same as ours." Ozcar added. "There could be any number of reasons why a non-Huntress doesn't have Aura."

" **Okay, I'm almost done." Penny said as she was finishing up with the baby's leg. "I just need another adhesive. Something pliable that I can…" she looked up at Sun, who was chewing a piece of gum as he watched over her shoulder. "Spit." She held out her hand and Sun complied, spiting into her hand. "Your gum!" she said in disgust, wiping her hand on his vest while Sun took the gum from his mouth, which Penny then added to her make-shift cast.**

"I like that there is more humor in this one." Blake said, "A little levity in a tense situation is usually a good thing, so long as it doesn't derail things."

 **In the hide, Leo and Rin watched the canopy. They saw the trees move and birds fly off when their perches were disturbed. Each shift of the trees was accompanied by a thundering footfall as what they assumed were the parents of the baby Rex passed beneath them.**

 **As Penny and Sun finished their work and the infant began to stir, the phone began ringing again.**

" **Get the bottle of amoxicillin and fill a syringe." Penny told Sun, "Just a quick injection of antibiotics and we can get this guy back home." Suddenly, Nora burst through the door, soaked to the bone and with a few bits of plant life stuck to her.**

" **For once in your life, would it kill you to pick it up?" she said, moving to the baby and trying to pick it up. "Come on, we gotta get this thing outta here."**

" **No, no, we just set it's leg- "**

 **Penny was interrupted by a screeching from outside. They looked out the window and saw one of the cars tumble over the cliff and explode upon impact with the ground.**

Nora reached out and took Ren's hands.

"The death flags be a-waving folks." Neo signed.

 **Nora looked back to the pair. "Mommy's very angry." She said. They looked out the window, thinking they could see where the mighty beasts were, but saw nothing until they heard a growling noise behind them. Nora turned with a gasp to see the head of a fully-grown T. Rex looking in at them. The other Rex appeared behind her and alerted them to it's presence with a low growl. Penny screamed when the second Rex let out a full roar then pushed the side of the trailer, trying to make them fall into the jaws of it's mate.**

 **The infant was now fully awake and groaned through it's muzzle. The parents heard him and gently growled to reassure it.**

" **This isn't hunting behavior, Nora." Penny said. "Not hunting. They're searching. They came for their infant."**

" **Well then, let's not disappoint them." Nora said.**

"Yes, please get Sun's poor decision out of there!" Nora pleaded.

"Hey!" Sun said.

"Mr. Sun is not the only one at fault." Penny said guiltily.

"Hey!"

" **Let me get his head." Penny said, moving around to the front of their little patient, "Nora, can you carry him?"**

" **Got it."**

" **Muzzle off." Sun said as he took his belt off of the baby's snout. Once removed, the baby resumed howling and hooting, which made the adults more vocal as well as the trio slowly moved the baby to the door. Nora opened it, giving Sun and Penny an up-close look at the head of a living, breathing, growling and, frankly, rather peeved adult T. Rex. She carefully set the infant down on it's feet and let it run to his parents, who quickly led it back into the tree line. As the door closed, the phone began ringing again.**

" **Yeah, Leo?" Nora said.**

" **Yeah, they're uh, they're going back into the jungle." He told her, keeping a reassuring arm around Rin, who was fiddling with a small necklace her mother had given her, bearing her mother's thunder hammer sigil and her father's lotus flower sigil.**

" **Okay, good. What about Rin? Is she alright?"**

" **Yeah, she's good, she's right here." Leo said handing Rin the phone.**

" **Hello?" Rin said subdued, keeping one hand on her necklace.**

" **Rin, how are you? Are you okay?"**

" **Yeah, I'm good." Nora could tell it was a lie, but she didn't really blame her for it. She was a wreck herself.**

" **Okay, listen to me. Stay where you are. I'll be right back. Understand?"**

" **Yeah, I got it." Rin handing Leo back the phone.**

"Look, in my defense, I was just trying to help." Sun said. "Sienna was the one who hurt it to use it as bait."

"Yeah, I'll take responsibility for that one." Sienna said, sitting behind the parents and Winter.

* * *

 **Yeah, I just did that right now. I felt it appropriate to bring Sienna in as Adam's replacement. From the little we saw of her, she seems like a more level-headed leader than Adam ever was. Plus, with how little we know about her, she's kind of a perfect character to use how the author wants without her seeming OOC.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite, and leave a Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 1/7/2020!**


	57. Chapter 57- The Lost World, Part 6

**Not in as great a mood today and those of you who read the reviews section may know why.**

 **Critics United has returned to plague this story once more.**

 **And my strategy for round two is the same as it was in round one: wait it out and ignore them. I figure, since I've been at this for a year, if I really was reported for rule-breaking, an ACTUAL admin of the site would have contacted me by now, but since nobody has, I keep on keeping on. Hopefully, this time, we won't get any more of those weird fake CU guys.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 56

"When and how?!" Blake shouted, jumping from her seat and reaching for Gambol Shroud before she remembered it wasn't there.

"Been here since the beginning of the movie, Blake." Sienna said with a shrug. "And is that really any way to talk to your godmother?"

"Sienna, dear! Oh, it's so good to see you!" Kali said as she wrapped Sienna in a fierce hug.

"Hello again, Kali." Sienna grunted out with a smile. She and Kali had met in the early days of the White Fang, back under Ghira's leadership. "How's life?"

"You have some explaining to do, missy." Kali said, putting her hands on her hips. "Start with how you could let Adam Taurus get you."

"Let's put that on hold until the movie is over, okay?"

"I'll hold you to that." Kali said with a wry grin.

"I don't know if I'm comfortable having the late leader of the White Fang sitting in the same room as us." Weiss said.

"What's my dad supposed to be then?" Blake said.

"You know what I mean, Blake! This woman is responsible for my childhood, for Beacon!"

"Actually, Beacon was all Adam's doing." Ilia said. "Sienna was furious when she heard about it. I can feel my skin turning pink just thinking about some of the things she claimed she would do to Adam when he returned. Now, shall we return to the point?"

"Thank you!" Nora exclaimed.

 **Nora hung up the phone in the trailer and began to wipe her hands before going back to the radio.**

" **You know, I beg people to listen to me." She said, "I use plain, simple Common. I don't have any accent that I know of."**

" **Oh, shut up." Penny said, absolutely done for the day.**

" **So, if nothing else, that should make for an interesting chapter in your book."**

" **I think the debate over the parental instincts of a T. Rex is now… academic." Penny said.**

 **Nora was about to try the radio when Penny's words really hit her.**

" **Hang on, this is gonna be bad." Nora said.**

"Whatever happens, this is your fault Sun!"

 **Suddenly, the entire trailer shifted, falling onto its side. Everyone was thrown forward, with Penny and Nora falling to the floor- which was once the wall- and Sun falling onto the wall- which was now the floor- before the trailer fell on its side again so that everything was now upside down.**

 **A T. Rex roared outside as Nora looked out the window and the trailer began to move backwards.**

" **They're pushing us over the cliff!" She said.**

 **Outside, the tyrannosaurs destroyed the windshield and pushed the car further back, but the accordion design connecting the two halves made it somewhat difficult. Sun and Nora ran to the nearest door and tried to force it open.**

" **Come on, come on." Sun growled as he tried to force the door open, to no avail.**

" **Once we're out of here…" Nora said, pushing behind him.**

" **Straight into the woods."**

" **Straight into the woods." Nora agreed as she stepped back and rammed her foot into the door, barely missing Sun's fingers. The rexes hit the trailer again, lining it up perfectly and throwing Sun and Nora from their positions.**

 **As the trailer began to hang over the edge of the cliff, Sun yelled out. "Hang on to something!"**

 **The rexes pushed once more and more than half of the rear trailer now hung over the cliff side. Gravity eventually won out, and the whole back half fell over, the accordion sleeve the only thing holding it up. The rear panel fell off, a square wall of hardened glass the only floor they had. Sun and Nora had fairly good purchases, with both something to hold onto and something to stand on, but Penny was not so fortunate. She was hanging with her back to a cabinet, her hands clutching the handle. Eventually, her weight was too much for the door to bear and the whole thing gave way, and she fell and impacted hard against the glass wall, causing it to crack.**

" **Penny!" Sun yelled out. The only response he got was Penny sighing against the glass, fogging it up as her cheek began to bleed. She opened her eyes to see the sheer fall that awaited her and heard the glass begin to crack.**

" **Oh, Gods, please." She pleaded as she began to rise to her knees.**

" **Don't move!" Sun yelled as the cracks began to widen.**

" **I'm coming down for ya!" Nora said as she began to climb her way down. "Sun, get the scroll."**

" **On it." the monkey faunus said as he searched for the case.**

 **Penny had fully risen to her hands and knees, putting her whole weight on the glass. It seemed to be holding, so she carefully moved her hand towards the edge. As she did, cracks began to form under the fingers of the hand holding her up.**

 **Meanwhile, Sun had found the case hanging from a lamp. He found purchase on a revolving chair bolted to the floor. He considered wrapping his tail around something so he could maximize his reach, but didn't think it would be enough and settled for a single outstretched hand.**

"Sun, why not just use your tail?" Ruby wondered aloud. "Like, wrap it around that pole and lean out?"

"It's an idea, but there's a lot of problems with it." Sun said, "I would basically be putting my whole weight on my tail, and while it is strong and prehensile, I must be pretty tired and weakened from a long day on that island and the stress of the attack. The amount of times I would have to wrap it around something solid in order to properly hold my weight would greatly limit how far out I could hang."

"I'm guessing there were plenty of opportunities to test your limits growing up?" Weiss said, genuinely curious.

"It's Vacuo, Ice Queen. You do what you have to to kill time and not die."

"You get a pass on that one." Weiss said with a smirk.

 **As he stretched out, the strap slowly slid down the lamp, gravity taking it's toll. He had nearly reached it by the time Penny had nearly reached the edge of the metal frame the glass was set in and Nora reached out a hand for her.**

" **Give me your hand, baby." Nora said, as she spied Penny's pack off to the side.**

" **Head's up!" Sun yelled as the scroll case fell. Nora instinctively grabbed Penny's pack and held it out to her. She grabbed it just as the case finally shattered the glass wall and Penny hung for her life.**

" **Your lucky pack, right?" Nora said as she tried to stay in the trailer.**

 **By the time Nora and Sun had finally gotten Penny back into the trailer, the heard the sounds of a car horn beeping above them. Up on the cliff, the other car burst from the jungle and came to halt. Leonardo stepped out and saw the state of everything, taking it in with horror.**

" **Nora! Penny! Sun!" he yelled out.**

" **Leo! We're in here!" Sun yelled back.**

' **I like this. Leonardo deserves an amount of redemption.** ' Ozpin mused in Oscar's head.

'Are you really sticking up for a traitor?' Oscar questioned.

' **I do not know when Leonardo turned on us, but I knew him for a good deal of his life. I helped him become Headmaster of Haven. I refuse to let the actions of his final days tarnish the legacy he made for himself.** '

" **Hang on! I'm coming!" Leo replied. He ran to the door and tried to open it before he realized that the emergency doors locks had automatically kicked in. Seeing the smashed-in windshield, he climbed through it into the trailer, ignoring the warnings going off in the cabin. "What did this?"**

" **Rin! Where's Rin?" Nora yelled out.**

" **She's okay! She's in the high hide!" Leo told her, giving Nora some relief. "Who's hurt? What do you need?"**

" **We need rope!" Nora told him.**

" **Rope. Anything else?"**

" **Yeah, three cheeseburgers with the works. Four by four animal style!"**

" **No onions on mine!" Sun added.**

" **And an apple turnover!" Penny finished.**

That got chuckles from most of the crowd.

"I'll give you this Pinky," Roman said, "You know how to lighten a mood."

"It's one of her better qualities." Pyrrha agreed.

"Also, can we agree that these movies do suspense really well?" Blake asked, receiving nods all around.

 **Leo nodded to himself, glad that they could still make jokes in this kind of situation. Paying the rain no mind, he quickly ran back to his car and dug through the trunk until he pulled out a large length of strong, thick rope. He took it to a nearby tree stump- more likely the remnants of a tree the rexes had knocked over in their initial appearance- and tied the rope around it. He took the rest of the rope into the trailer and tossed it down to the trio, which was caught by Sun with his tail.**

" **Good throw!" Nora said, "Did you tie this to anything?" a loud rumbling answered her. The trio looked outside and saw the side of the cliff begin to climb upwards. "We're sliding, Leo!"**

 **Outside, Leo saw the front section of the trailer slowly moving backward. Thinking fast, he ran to his car and began unwinding the spool of thick metal wire attached to a metal hook.**

 **Inside, Sun and Nora quickly helped the less physically fit Penny up the rope first.**

 **Once Leo had unwound about twenty feet of wire, he picked up the hook and ran for the trailer. He came within six inches of the target before he ran out of wire and was thrown into the mud. He picked himself up and ran back to the car. Meanwhile, his rope knot was beginning to undo itself. Ultimately, it came undone from the weight it was bearing, sending the three adults inside tumbling to the bottom and nearly falling to their deaths. Fortunately, they managed to grab the frame before they fell.**

 **Once Leo had wound out another seven feet of wire, he ran back to the trailer, but slipped and fell to the muddy ground. 'See, this shit is why I don't like the field.' He thought to himself as he crawled to the bull bar and wrapped the wire over the top of the bottom bar, hooking it in place. The wire pulled taught as the trailer ceased moving and Leo's car shook from the weight it was now bearing.**

 **Knowing there was no time to rest, Leo saw the rope hanging slack on the ground. He quickly picked up the end near the tree, walked around the back of the stump and took his time tying a proper noose knot. Inside, Penny felt the rope going taught, and yelled to alert her trapped friends. As he finished the knot, Leo saw his car sliding forward. He looked back and saw the trailer begin to tilt into the air, the last pair of rear wheels on the front section falling over. He ran to his car, threw it into reverse and floored the gas as Penny resumed climbing inside.**

"Hell, this even gives us some ideas on how Lionheart designed the cars." Yang said, a little impressed.

"What?" Weiss said, not buying it.

 **Slowly, Leo managed to bring the trailer back to the ground and pulled the first pair of rear wheels back up, hissing and popping as they did. Inside, Nora began to climb up the rope. Leo pressed a button on the dash and changed gears, swerving from side to side as he pulled the front trailer further back onto the cliff. Inside, Sun joined Nora and Penny on the rope. Unfortunately, Penny's grip slipped and she slid down, running into Nora and Sun, and pushing all three of the out the bottom of the trailer.**

"See what I mean? The car has positraction." Yang said.

"Posi-what?" Coco asked.

"And here's where Yang turns into me." Ruby teased.

"Positraction is just a fancy word for a limited-slip differential unit used on cars. The basic idea is that the unit senses when a tire is slipping or sticking and sends power to that wheel to keep it moving properly. Thankfully, I don't really need that with Bumblebee."

 **Leo had managed to get all of the trailers wheels on the ground, but he knew he didn't have enough power to get the whole thing back up, so he settled for what he** _ **could**_ **do, and what he could do right now was keep the front section from falling again. While he was trying to keep the trailer from slipping again, he heard loud impacts coming from outside. Behind him, the two T. Rexes emerged from the tree line. He tried to keep his body still while also revving the gas to keep the trailer steady.**

 **Suddenly, one of the rexes tore the headlights off his car and threw them to the side. Then, the other one caved in his roof. They slowly picked the car apart, while Leo tried to defend himself. He could no longer reach the gas, but he was right next to his air rifle. He tried to pull it out, but the iron sight got caught in a mesh webbing and he couldn't get it out in his position. One of the rexes heads came close to him and he kicked at it to try and make it go away.**

 **This was Leonardo Lionheart's final mistake.**

 **The rex grabbed his leg at the shin and pulled him out of the car, flailing and screaming. It tossed him in the air, catching him at the torso while the other grabbed his legs and pulled, tearing him in half. It let go of the car, which it had been holding with it's foot, and the car sped toward the cliff.**

"Man, that's a hell of a way to go." Sienna said.

'At least this time he died fighting, the fool.' Salem thought to herself.

 **The trio on the rope screamed as the interior of the trailer rushed past them and exploded as it hit the rocks below, followed soon after by Leo's car. Shrapnel nearly hit them several times, including one of the intact spare tires. The trio looked up and knew that their brave comrade could only be dead. The only thing they could do now was climb.**

 **Penny was the first to reach the top, but stopped when she did. A dark feminine hand reached out to her, and she took it as Sienna Khan helped her onto the cliff, followed by Nora and Sun. They looked around as the hunters, their opponents-turned saviors, created a defensive perimeter. A man with a medical bag walked up to them, but was shoved aside as Rin Valkyrie blazed past him and tackle-hugged her mother.**

Nora stood up from her seat and walked up to Sienna. The late-High Leader looked up at her curiously, meeting her serious gaze.

"Thank you for keeping my daughter safe." Nora said, holding out her hand.

Siena chuckled and took the proffered hand. "You're gonna be a real terror when you have kids, you know that?"

"You better believe it." Nora grinned as she returned to her seat.

" **Our communications equipment's been destroyed." Sienna said once the rain had stopped and they had returned to their former camp site. "and if your radio and scroll were in those trailers that went over the cliffs…"**

" **They were." Nora confirmed.**

" **Then we're stuck here, ladies and gentlemen. And stuck together, thanks to you people."**

" **Look, lady, we came here to watch. You came to strip-mine the place." Sun said, giving Corsac a dirty look as the man got too close to him. "Back off."**

" **At least we came prepared." Salem said.**

" **Prepared?" Nora scoffed, "Five years of work and 100 miles of electrified fences couldn't prepare the other island. You think a couple dozen Marlboro men will do you any better?"**

" **It's a looter mentality." Sun said, "All you care about is what you can take, but you have no right."**

" **An extinct animal brought back to life has no rights." Salem fired back confidently, "It exists because we made it. We patented it. We own it."**

" _It's the animal rights fighters all over again."_ Ozpin groaned.

"Is that a hint of regret I sense up there?" Oscar teased.

" _Oscar, even in our current state, there is not enough time in the day to explain that proverbial can of worms."_

" **You looking for a problem, pal?" Sun said as Corsac got up in his face again.**

" **Found you, didn't I?" Corsac replied, making Sun clock him in the jaw. When Corsac got back up to return fire, he saw Sun standing with his hands clasped together and two clones of himself standing at his sides, clearly ready for a fight.**

" **Wait a minute," Sienna said before Sun could do anything. "I know you. You're that Remnant First bastard."**

" **What in the world is 'Remnant First'?" Salem asked.**

" **Professional saboteurs." Sienna explained simply.**

" **We're environmentalists!" Sun yelled angrily.**

" **Knock it off!" Penny yelled, "Now look, the fact of the matter is that by moving the infant into our camp, we may have changed the adults' perceived territory."**

" **Their what?" Salem asked.**

" **It's why they persisted in destroying the trailer." Burke explained. "They now feel they have to defend this entire area."**

 **Penny nodded. "We need to move, right now!"**

" **Move where?" Sun asked, dispelling his clones, "Our boat? Their airlift? They're both waiting for a call we have no way to send."**

"Thanks to Sun." Neptune commented.

"Dude!" Sun yelled, whirling on his best friend.

"Hey, man, I call 'em like I see 'em."

" **Alright, alright." Salem said, digging through her pack and pulling out a laminated map of the island. "Look here, there's a communications center here, near the old operations building. Everything ran on geothermal power. It was designed to never need replenishing. If we can get there, we can radio the airlift."**

" **Do you have the frequency and codes?" Nora asked.**

" **Right here." Salem showed them a small notebook.**

" **Well, we'll mind those." Sienna said, taking everything and entrusting it to Ajay.**

" **How far to the village?" Sun asked.**

" **Oh, a day's walk. Maybe more." Salem said, "But, that's not the problem."**

" **Then what is the problem?" Sienna asked.**

" **Velociraptors." Salem said, causing everyone around her to go silent, either in horror or in confusion. "Our infrareds show that their nesting sites are concentrated in the island interior, which is why we planned to stick to the outer rim."**

"Well, fuck me sideways." Nora sighed.

"Ozpin says he's surprised you haven't been calling them out on their language." Oscar told Glynda.

"At this point, I've given up." Glynda shrugged. "They're hardly students anymore, from what our host told me, and it's not like they would actually stop if I told them to."

" **Wait a minute." Corsac interrupted, "What the hell even is a veloci-whatever?"**

" **Velociraptor." Burke corrected, "Carnivore. Pack hunter. About two meters tall, long snout. Binocular vision. Strong dexterous forearms and killing claws on both feet."**

" **And the tyrannosaurs may continue to pursue us if they perceive a threat to either themselves or their infant." Penny added.**

" **No, no, you're wrong there, Dr. Polendina. We'll lose them once we leave their territory." Burke argued.**

" **No, don't bet on it. The tyrannosaur has the largest proportional olfactory cavity in the fossil record with one exception."**

" **Right, uh, the turkey vulture could scent up to ten miles."**

"Anyone care to translate that?" Coco asked.

"It means that the tyrannosaurs can track them pretty much anywhere on the island, and if they think these people are a threat, they will _actively_ seek them out and eliminate them." Summer said.

Sun gulped and sank into his seat, sensing the almighty rage emanating from Nora.

" **Right, this is all very exciting, it really is, but I say we move to the village." Salem said, rolling her eyes.**

" **We could always go back down to the lagoon." Nora suggested, looking down to Rin, who was wrapped up in a blanket for warmth.**

" **And do what?" Sienna asked with a frown. "Sit out in the open, next to a heavily used water source, and hope that your captain comes back for you?"**

" **Nah, he won't do that. He knows better." Sun said.**

" **Then we head for the village." Sienna said finally, "We might be able to find shelter, and we know we can call for help." She picked up her gun and began walking. "Rex just fed, so they won't stalk us for food."**

" **Excuse me," Nora said angrily, forcefully turning Sienna around, "I assume by 'just fed' you mean Leonardo. How about showing some damn respect? The man saved our lives by giving his."**

" **Then his troubles are over." Sienna said plainly, "My point is that predators don't hunt when they're not hungry."**

" **No, only humans and Faunus do." Sun yelled up at her.**

" **Oh, you're breaking our hearts. Now saddle up! Let's get this moveable feast underway!"**

* * *

 **You know, this whole thing with CU is kinda draining me. It doesn't help that it's kind of affecting my performance at work, since that's when most of their review alerts always seem to reach me. I hope that makes you happy, CU. Keep it up, and I might be out of job, which would also make me unable to pay for critical medications, and subsequently having seizures again. But hey, you guys won. Congrats.**

 **Am I being petty by saying this? Maybe, but I'm also not exaggerating.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite, and leave a Review.**

 **Next Update: 1/14/20**

 **P.S. To reader Plasma Dragon 312: Happy Birthday, man!**


	58. Chapter 58- The Lost World, Part 7

**Thank you all for your words last week, guys. Sincerely.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 58

 **The party decided to rest for the night and get a fresh start in the early morning. Unfortunately, it began raining again by the time they reached a small creek bed. Sun ran past one of the hunters and slowed down alongside Sienna.**

" **Want some gum?" he said in a chipper voice, offering her a stick from the pack. She declined, so he took it for himself. "You seem like you got a shred of common sense." He said, trying to make conversation. "What the hell are you doing here?"**

" **Somewhere on this island is the greatest predator that ever lived." Sienna said matter of factly, "The second greatest must take him down."**

"Wow, talk about pride." Taiyang commented.

"It's been a problem since she first joined, I'm afraid." Kali said dramatically.

"Oh, like you were any better, Ms. Love-at-first-sight." Sienna fired back.

" **You gonna use that to do it?" he asked, pointing to her elephant gun.**

" **If he doesn't surrender, yes."**

" **Lemme take a look at it." Sun grabbed for the gun.**

" **Nope." Sienna moved the gun out of reach, carrying it over her other shoulder.**

 **Sun chuckled at her reaction. "So, the animal exists on the planet for the first time in tens of millions of years and the only way you can express yourself is to kill it?"**

" **You remember that guy a few years back? I forget his name. He climbed up Mount Neverset with no oxygen and came back nearly dead? And people asked him; 'why did you go up there to die?' he said, 'I didn't. I went up there to live.'"**

 **Further back in the group, Salem, now wearing a dark, weather-resistant poncho, came up alongside Nora and Rin.**

" **Say, I haven't had a chance to wish you luck on your new business venture." Nora said, taking the chance to fire a few 'told you so' shots at Salem, "You're off to a very promising start."**

" _It still amazes me that they just freely talk to her like that."_ Ozpin said.

"It's a different Salem, Ozpin." Oscar reminded him.

" _I know, but still…"_

" **My team is intact, doctor. I'm sorry for the loss of your man." Salem said calmly. "You know, it's very easy to criticize someone who generates an idea and assumes the risks of it."**

" **You know, when you try to sound like Oz, it just comes off like a hustle."**

" **I am nothing like Ozma." Salem said angrily.**

" **Keep telling yourself that."**

" **Ozma's reach exceeded his grasp. Mine does not."**

 **Nora sighed. "Taking dinosaurs off this island is the worst idea in the long, sad history of bad ideas, and I'm gonna be there when you figure that out."**

"I'm sort of glad these movies don't exist in our world." Weiss said.

"Let me guess: your old man?" Yang said.

"Mm-hm."

 **By midday, the rain had long since passed and the group was walking across open grassland, keeping close to the tree line. A low roaring echoed across the plains and the hunters picked up their pace, keeping their weapons at the ready as they moved into the forest.**

 **The group slowly trudged through the trees in a disordered line, allowing the foliage to brush against them. Sienna looked at one of the plants and saw an amount of blood on it.**

" **Take a break!" she called out, "Five minutes." The men and women around her moaned and groaned thankfully as they found places to sit, drink and eat. Sienna walked among the individuals who were in front of her, stopping when she saw Penny. She set her gun against the tree next to Penny and squatted down in front of the long-haired ginger. "Are you injured?" she asked her.**

" **Huh?" Penny asked, tired. Sienna pointed at her clothes. "Oh, no, it's from the baby. I set its broken leg. It's just not drying in all this humidity."**

" **Sienna, could I have a word?" Salem asked. Sienna stood and turned to her employer. "I'd love to know where we are." The pair walked off as Sienna pulled out a compass.**

 **Sun walked up and sat down next to Penny. "Making friends with Ahab, are ya?" he joked. Penny rolled her eyes with a smile at her teammate as she pulled off one of her shoes and shook some rocks out of it, while Sun eyed up Sienna's gun.**

"God damn it, Sun." Neptune sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"What?" Sun said.

"I know that fucking look, man. That's your 'up to no good' face."

"Oh, bull shit it is."

"The food fight on the first week?"

"That was Arslan's fault, and you know it."

"Ditching us to take a boat to Vale?"

"You hate sea travel! And the guys wanted to fly anyway."

"Ditching us to go after a girl?"

Sun paused for a moment. "Which time?" Suddenly, a bucket of popcorn bounced off his aura.

"Shut it!" Nora hissed.

 **Further down the line, Corsac left his pack with the man known as Carter. "Hey, Carter, I'm going to the ladies' room. Wait here for me, will ya?" Unfortunately for Corsac, Carter heard none of that over his headphones and the music they were playing. He walked a fair distance from the group, until he was sure no one would bother trying to peep on him. He set his gun down and began prepping himself to do his business, when he heard whispering and chittering from the brush. He quickly took up his weapon and held it at the ready.**

 **He followed the noises and rustling to a nearby bush and looked deep into it. He saw nothing until a Compy stuck it's head out at him suddenly, shrieking at him. He yelped in surprise, pointing the gun at the creature's tiny head, then chuckled to himself when his brain finished processing everything.**

" **It's not nice to sneak up on people." He said as he pulled out his cattle prod and extended it. The Compy dived back into the bushes and Corsac jabbed down at it, trying and failing to shock it three times. Looking around, he realized that he hadn't left any way for him to find his way back to the group. "Hey, Carter! Where are ya? I got turned here!" No answer. He kept calling out to his buddy, but Carter was busy munching on a bar of chocolate, his music still blasting in his ears.**

 **Corsac continued deeper into the forest, gun and cattle prod at the ready.**

" **Hey, Cart- ah!" he yelled out as he stepped over a bush, not seeing the sheer drop until it was too late. He tumbled down the slope, losing his weapons in the fall, stopping with a thud as he hit the base. He panted and groaned into the dirt, not noticing the rustling in the bushes surrounding him.**

"I guess it's this guy's turn to join the Dead Folks Club." Qrow commented.

"Good." Sienna said, a little pouty.

"I take it you're not a fan, either?" Ghira asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Hardly. Him and his brother were odd ducks on a new level. Practically tried to turn their Fang cell into a cult backing Adam."

Ilia slowly shrank into her seat, trying to make herself as unnoticeable as possible.

 **Suddenly, Compys swarmed him, jumping up and biting at his skin and clothes. Corsac managed to rise to his feet, ripping off a Compy that was biting on the side of his throat and then another that had gotten ahold of his lip. The rest of the animals quickly abandoned ship as he violently shook off the ones that clung to his torso. They ran a short distance to a nearby log and looked at him expectantly. He simply spat some blood at them and turned and walked away. The animals followed him, maintaining their distance, until he turned and ran at them, roaring and chucking stones at them to make them scatter.**

 **Back at the group, Penny was resting against the same tree Sienna's gun was. Sienna picked up said gun and called for the group to resume their march. The men and women groaned as they came back to their feet, except for Ajay.**

" **Carry me?" Rin asked her mother.**

 **At the back of the group, Carter remained seated.**

" **Carter. Carter!" one of his fellows said, before picking up a small rock and tossing it at the man's leg, immediately getting his attention. He gestured to the group on the move and Carter quickly took of his headphones and picked up his gun, not noticing the pack they left behind.**

 **Corsac was in some deep shit. He was practically limping down a creek bed, calling out for Sienna and Carter, the Compys chirping and trilling as they continued to follow him. He yelled at them to get lost, throwing rocks and insults at them, but the little beasts were relentless. He began to feel weak and fell into the water, allowing even more of the beasts to swarm him. He shook them off too, and quickly retreated over a nearby log. The animals followed him, but this time all he could do was scream as his blood mixed into the running water.**

Sienna hummed as she reclined her chair, satisfied with how the insect went out. Although, maybe it was a little too good for him. After all, him and his brother did try to kill two of his best friends and kidnap her goddaughter.

 **Sienna looked down at Carter with hard eyes. The group had stopped again once someone had realized that Corsac was not among their number.**

" **When did you last see him?" she growled.**

" **10, 15 minutes ago." Carter answered.**

 **Sienna nodded. That would match up with the last time she had seen him as well.**

" **Come with me, and you." She said, pointing at Carter and the man next to him. "If he's alive, we'll find him. The rest of you keep moving until you reach the ridge. Wait for us there, and Ms. Polendina?" Penny walked up to Sienna, "No one tells the little girl." She whispered. Penny nodded and sat back down.**

"That sounds like something you would do." Kali commented.

"No man, woman or child left behind, right?" Sienna grinned.

"It was always your way." Ghira agreed.

" **Alright. Let's carry on." Salem said, rising to her feet. "On your feet, everyone." Nobody moved. "You heard me, let's go."**

 **Sun stood up. "Alright guys, let's get the hell outta here." This time, the (mostly faunus) group grunted as they rose and carried on. Ajay, though he followed orders, secretly wondered why Sienna hadn't asked his to come along and stared after her as she departed.**

 **That night, the camp was quiet, filled with the sounds of quiet snoring as everyone was out cold from the long march. Penny and Rin got a tent to themselves, which was lit up from within by a lantern. Everyone was asleep, except for Ajay, who was keeping watch and waiting for Sienna to return. He smelled the air and identified Sienna's unique signature approaching from behind. Quickly, he grabbed a canteen he had saved and brought it over to his cousin.**

" **Did you find him?" Nora asked as she joined the two faunus. Sienna didn't answer as she greedily drank from the proffered canteen.**

" **Ah. Just the parts they didn't like." She said, wiping her mouth of excess water with the back of her arm. "Alright, let's see that map." She ordered, and Ajay dutifully pulled the map out of his pack along with a flashlight. "Now, the operations building is right down in there, about a mile and a half from the base of these cliffs." She pointed to a nearby valley.**

" **How do you know?" Nora asked.**

" **I've seen it, but the climb down won't be easy. We'll let them sleep, one more hour. Then we hit it."**

"Wouldn't it be better to wait until daylight to do something like that?" Winter posited.

"Maybe for humans, and even some Faunus," Sienna said evenly, "But remember that most of us have nearly perfect night vision. It makes no matter to us if we do it in the light or the dark. What _does_ matter is getting out of the open and into some form of shelter as soon as possible and calling in the rescue."

 **Inside the tent, Rin and Penny were fast asleep, crackers and chocolate bars sitting near their heads. Outside, Nora couldn't sleep and was wandering around the camp, illuminated by the moonlight. As she passed a pool of still water, she saw it ripple slightly. She stopped and saw it happen again, accompanied by the sound of a distant thud.**

 **At the same time, Penny woke up in the tent, hearing the thud and feeling the tremor. Slowly, she looked up and saw her bloody jacket hanging over her in an attempt to dry it out.**

"Oh, *Blaring horns* me." Penny said, putting her head in hers hands.

"Penny!" Ruby yelled, holding her ears.

"I'm sorry." Penny said sheepishly.

"Gah! That's my thing." Pyrrha muttered.

" **Oh no." she whispered before quickly scrambling to cram as much mess as she could into plastic baggies and quietly turn out the light. As the light within died, the moon illuminated the shape of a T. Rex head against the side of the tent. Outside, Nora saw the beast approached the tent. Her memories from Nublar kicked in and she stood absolutely still, hoping the same rules applied here.**

 **Slowly, the rex stuck its head into the tent, rumbling a low growl and began to sniff the bloody jacket. Rin was roused by the sounds.**

" **What is that?" she asked aloud. She turned around and nearly screamed if not for Penny silencing her. All she could do was silently cry out for her mother.**

" **Rin. Rin!" Nora whisper shouted. At her feet, Carter was roused. He looked up and screamed aloud, shouting in rapid Faunuspeak, and waking the entire camp, who took one look at the giant carnivore in their midst and scrambled to get the hell away.**

" **Stay put! Stay put! Don't move!" Nora yelled at them, holding her position. "Don't run!"**

 **The rex quickly stood up, ripping the tent from the ground, and shook the tent from its head with a roar. Sun had somehow managed to quickly circle around to the girls and sped them away, urging Rin to focus on running rather than their pursuer. As the second rex came into the encampment, Nora decided to crawl away rather than be seen running with the hunters.**

"Sun?" Nora growled, making the boy freeze in his seat.

"Y-yeah?" he replied nervously.

"You have earned a reprieve."

"Um, thanks?"

 **Sienna came up with her rifle and fired, but nothing came of it. She pulled the trigger again. Nothing. She took out the ammo to reveal a pair of empty shells.**

" **Monkey-tailed bastard!" She growled and ran to her tent to grab Plan B.**

 **Meanwhile, the female rex pursued the hunters through the forest and into a creek bed, roaring at the men, one of whom was blindly firing his gun at it. Carter accidentally tripped and fell into a large puddle of water and was trampled on as his fellows fled. He managed to turn around just in time to scream as the rex's foot came crashing down on him. His body stuck to its foot like a piece of wet toilet paper for a few steps until it came to rest face down in another puddle.**

"God damn. Hell of a way to go." Qrow commented.

"You said it, buddy." Tai agreed.

 **Back at the camp, Sienna pulled a box from her pack covered in warning labels. Opening it revealed a set of tranquilizer darts. Carefully, she loaded one into the tip of her chain whip and locked it in place. Taking a second one and carefully holding it between her teeth, she unwound her whip and began to stalk the male, which was drinking nearby. Using a small bush as cover, she swung her whip over her head and slung the tip straight at the beast's flank, the needle driving deep into the skin. The rex let out a roar of pain and began to stalk towards Sienna, who calmly retracted her whip and loaded the next needle into the tip as she backed away slowly.**

"Credit where it's due." Yang said, clapping softly. "That was badass."

Ilia clapped along, proud that she had been taught her style by Sienna herself.

 **The hunters began to file into a cave behind a waterfall as they fled the T. Rex pursuing them. Rin tripped and fell, but Penny and Sun quickly pulled her to her feet and into the cave mere seconds before the rex's head burst through the waterfall with a roar. The hunted crowded the back of the cave, trying to put more distance between them and the hunter.**

" **I hate you, you son of a bitch!" Sun yelled at the beast defiantly, "He can't reach us!"**

 **With its teeth, this was true, but it was still able to stretch it's tongue out towards Penny and lick at her face, disgusting her to no end.**

" **Ah! A snake! Get it- help me!" Burke yelled, noticing a snake crawling down his shirt.**

" **Stay back!" Penny yelled as her colleague ran closer to the waterfall, but he was grabbed by his arm and hoisted bodily out of the cave. His screams were ended by an audible crunch and followed by a red tinge to the waterfall.**

 **Sun kept Rin's head turned away from the sight, doing his best to keep her calm. He heard a loud inhale coming from beyond the water. "It's coming back!" he yelled.**

 **Rin screamed in fright, only to see her mother appear in the entrance.**

" **Mom!" she yelled, throwing herself into her mother's arms with a sob.**

 **Nora hugged her daughter tightly and walked over to Sun. "Thank you." Sun simply nodded in gratitude.**

"Scratch that. Sun, you are forgiven." Nora said, relief evident despite herself. Sun sighed and sunk into his seat, making Coco and Velvet laugh at him.

XX

 **Alrighty! Only two chapters left of the Lost World. I know Ruby has been a bit light on her reactions this time, but this is a sequel to Jurassic Park. It's very likely that she wouldn't like it as much as the original, kinda like me.**

 **Since we're so close to our next movie, it's time for you guys to vote on what it will be.**

 **Option 1: an animated Disney adventure movie featuring one of the Forgotten Princesses**

 **Option 2: a realistic sci-fi space western**

 **It doesn't matter which one you pick, since I'm excited to do either one, but be sure to leave your votes in the reviews for this chapter only. Any votes in other chapters will not be counted.**

 **Once again, thank you all for what you said in your reviews last week. You really have no idea how much you helped me.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite, and leave a Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 1/21/20**


	59. Chapter 59- The Lost World, Part 8

**Fuck me, I almost forgot to post this. Shorter chapter is short.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 59

 **The hunter's shouted and scrambled as they fled the forest for a field of long grass.**

" **Not into the long grass!" Ajay yelled, tossing his pack aside. "Don't go into the long grass!"**

"Oh, I got a bad feeling about this." Sienna said.

 **The hunters moved in a loose column through the field, guns at the ready and flashlights sweeping all around. The reason for Ajay's warning became apparent as a pair of raptor heads poked up from the grass. As they moved further in, an overhead shot showed the raptors quickly closing in on them.**

"Oh, fuck!" Yang yelled.

"I'm starting to think one those guys has my Semblance." Qrow chuckled.

 **The first two to go were a pair of men at the rear of the column. One seemed to simply slip and fall on his back, and when his partner looked, he too fell, the only signs of their fate being some low hissing and flailing raptor tails.**

 **Then they got bolder, taking out a man closer to the column. His death startled the other, and the immediate death of another in the middle of the column sent the rest into a panic as they ran to get out of the field. One of the hunters turned when he heard a raptor roar and screamed as the beast leapt from the grass and tackled him to the ground.**

 **Nora, Sun, Penny and Rin followed the hunter's trail into the field until Sun stopped them.**

" **Hey, hey, hey!" he said, coming to a stop and picking something up off the ground.**

" **What is it?" Nora asked.**

" **I think it's Ajay's bag." He replied as he started to root through it. The sound of a raptor's roar and a man's scream in the distance made them all look up. Nora led them away from the path, listening intently to the distant screams and screeches. When she heard a much closer growling, her eyes widened considerably.**

"GTFO! GTFO!" Nora yelled at her doppelganger.

" **Run." She said, "As fast as you can. Go!" and she grabbed Rin by the hand and took off across the field. They ran into another part of the forest, but fell down a small cliff. The slid down the muddy ground and came to a sudden stop. Sun rolled as he hit the ground, but Nora cried out as she landed feet first. Quickly recovering, Sun stood and ran ahead a bit. Nora made to follow, but groaned when she put weight on one of her feet and took a seat on a nearby rock.**

" **I can see structures up ahead." Sun told them. Thank God for Faunus night vision. "Now, they said the communications center is in the operations building. I'll get in there and send the radio call. See you there." he rooted through Ajay's bag and pulled out the booklet with the radio frequencies and necessary jargon and ran off.**

" **Wait for us." Penny pleaded.**

" **Every second counts." Sun said, "Anyone who thinks they can keep up, you're welcome to try."**

" **We're right behind you." Nora said, trying to get up, but Nora and Rin forced her back down.**

 **To say that the facility Sun ran into was fucked up was a bit of an understatement. Cars lay abandoned everywhere. The glass on the buildings was smashed in several places. Dirt and grime covered the walls, as did parts of the jungle itself. He jumped when he saw an open pair of jaws behind him inside the facility, but backing away showed a mural of what Jurassic Park could have been had it succeeded. (Or rather, if Ozpin had paid Mercury what he was due.)**

 **Looking around, he saw a sign above a doorway that said 'Communications' and forced his way through. On the far wall, he found a grime-covered sign that said 'Caution: High Voltage'. Or at least, he thought it did, considering it was placed above what looked like an industrial light switch. Forcing it up, the lightbulb near his head blew out, while everything else hummed to life. Rooting through the vines draping down from the ceiling, he found the radio and set the frequency.**

" **CQ, CQ, this is InGen Operations Harvest Leader to Harvest Base." He said into the microphone, putting as much authority into his voice as he could, "Repeating, I'm calling for InGen Operations Harvest Leader, seeking InGen Harvest Base."**

" **Go ahead, Harvest Leader." A voice replied.**

" **Thank God!" Sun sighed as he stood up and looked at the details in the booklet he found the frequency in. "The operation has suffered severe casualties, and the survivors are now in mortal danger. I need you to send rescue immediately. Our coordinates here are, um, our coordinates are 9 degrees, 58 minutes north, 85 degrees…"**

"Okay, have I redeemed myself now?" Sun asked.

"You saved my daughter. You have my vote." Nora said.

"All in favor of forgiving Sun?" Neptune said, raising his hand. The rest of the Beacon gang followed suit, along with Neo and Torchwick. "All opposed?" No one raised their hands. "Motion carries."

" _If only democracy actually worked that way."_ Ozpin sighed in Oscar's head.

 **Back at the camp, Sienna sat on a rock, her whip slung over one shoulder, and watched as Salem walked up to her prize; the male T. Rex, fast asleep and heavily sedated, lying on it's side. However, Sienna seemed less than pleased for some reason.**

 **A few minutes after Sun had sent the SOS, Nora, Penny and Rin walked into the facility, though Nora did so with a noticeable limp on her right foot.**

" **Sun!" Nora called out tiredly, leading the group further in. "Sun! Sun Wukong? Sun?"**

"Okay, yeah, I deserved that." Nora admitted with a chuckle.

"How many Suns do you think are on this island." Sun laughed.

 **Suddenly, a raptor jumped onto the roof of a car and jumped onto Penny's back with enough force to push her several feet forward. Rin cried out as the beast tore at Penny's backpack and Nora pulled her in close. Thinking quickly, Penny undid the buckles on the straps. The straps tore free as the raptor pulled at it, allowing her to make a break for it before the beast could realize it had been had. Penny ran to Nora and Rin, who led her to the other side of an abandoned truck.**

 **They had nearly made it past the raptor when it suddenly jerked it's head up towards them. Nora quickly grabbed a stick and began drawing it's attention.**

" **Here! Here! Here!" she yelled, beating the stick against the truck, "Get inside! Anywhere!" she told her girls.**

"Are the raptors the final baddies again?" Yang asked.

"That's a little repetitive." Weiss commented.

Blake frowned, not sure that the film would do that, even if it was a sequel.

"Who cares? The raptors are cool as heck!" Ruby exclaimed.

 **Another pair of raptors jumped over another car and went after Rin and Penny, but they simply rammed their heads against a door the girls had just retreated through. Nora made a run in the opposite direction for some kind of gas station, bracing herself against the door. The raptor circumvented this by jumping through the cracked glass window. Nora ran out, and the raptor jumped out the way it came in. Nora went back inside, and the raptor followed, but it hesitated when Nora ripped the door from it's hinges and held it before her. Nonplussed, the raptor jumped at the door, knocking Nora through the glass window behind her.**

 **Nora quickly recovered and ran for an abandoned car on the other side of the gas station. The raptor jumped after her, but slipped on the wet ground and fell. Nora had managed to get the car door open and crawled in when the raptor jumped after her, slamming it behind her and cracking the window. Looking through a small hole it had made, it saw Nora glare at it in fear, backed up against the opposite door. Then, it began to peck at the hole, widening it with its pointed snout. Once the hole was big enough, it simply started pushing it's snout through, slowly widening the hole through brute force.**

"Well, that can't feel great." Coco grimaced.

"I doubt it even feels it, if their skin is as tough as I think." Summer said.

 **Looking around, Penny guessed the building she and Rin were holed up in was some kind of generator house. Her attention was quickly directed to the snorting and growling coming from the door in front of them. Backing up to the opposite wall, the two women began trying to make some kind of hole in the wood. Looking back to the door, she saw claws appear in the gap between the door and the ground. The raptors were trying to dig their way in. So, Penny grabbed a rock and she and Rin began to do the same at the opposite wall.**

 **Taking one last look behind them, and seeing that raptors were still at work, Penny decided it was time to make their escape. She pulled a couple boards loose and checked that the coast was clear before pushing Rin forward.**

" **Go, I'll be right behind you." She assured the teen.**

" **Where do I go when I get- " Rin was cut off when the head of one of the raptors burst through the hole they had made with a shriek.**

 **Seeing their escape route cut off, the ladies began to climb the equipment, hoping to at least get too high for the animal to jump.**

 **Outside, Nora's raptor had completely broken through the window opposite from her. Seeing that the two raptors at the generator house were gone, she took her chance to get away. She opened the door behind her, clambered out of the car and ran into the building.**

" **Look out!" Penny and Rin yelled to her, but they really needn't have. The raptor half-stuck in a hole in the wall made her next move fairly clear: she climbed up to the next level just as the raptor made it through the hole and tried to take a bite out of her.**

 **Rin began to walk along the catwalk, seeing a pair of pipes outside it that would make from a perfect set of uneven bars. Her specialty in gymnastics. A plan quickly took shape in her head, one true to the Valkyrie name. Ignoring Penny's warnings, she jumped onto the highest bar and began to properly position herself.**

"The hell is she doing?" Nora said, holding her hands.

"Being a badass." Yang commented, quickly putting things together.

 **The raptor jumped onto the catwalk, directly in front of Nora and growled at the woman.**

" **Get away from my mom!" Rin cried, causing both raptor and mother to look to the side just in time to see Rin spin backwards, fully extending her arms at the height of her spin and then swing back at them, kicking the raptor full in the side and launching it out the wooden slat window next to it. As the raptor howled in pain from the pieces of wood stuck in it's side, a few of which poked out the other side, Rin carefully dismounted the uneven pipes to the ground.**

"Woah!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Holy shit!" Weiss agreed.

"Fucking brutal!" said Yang.

"Fatality." Sun said.

"Yeah!" Nora cheered, shooting out of her seat. "That's my girl! Show 'em who's boss, Rinny!"

 **Nora jumped down and smiled wryly at her daughter. "So, the school cut you from the team?"**

 **Rin chuckled at her mother. "That may have been an exaggeration."**

 **Penny heard the growling of another raptor coming from outside. "Get out of here! Now!" she yelled.**

 **Nora and Rin quickly left via the exit while Penny climbed higher until she reached the top of the building. She kicked out the wooden window, ran across the roof and jumped to the roof of the next building. Another raptor followed her the same way, but landed on it's feet a bit higher up on the roof than Penny did.**

 **Penny screamed in surprise, and then terror as she felt herself slip down the roof. She managed to stop herself before she fell off completely, which was both fortunate and unfortunate for her as the third raptor appeared beneath her. She quickly used the only weapon available to her and began to throw the clay shingles of the roof down at the third raptor. Quickly realizing that this was making the raptor on the roof slide closer to her, a plan came to mind. She quickly began to pull off the shingles from the three rows the raptors stood on and made it slide off the roof with the rest of those three rows. The raptor fell with a thud, landing on it's comrade. Annoyed, it nipped at the neck of the one that fell on it.**

 **As the one that fell retaliated, Penny tried to climb onto the roof, but she felt her strength leave her and she fell off the roof. As the raptors began to fight, she heard the sounds of a Bullhead nearby and took off. Rounding a corner, she ran into Nora and Rin, who quickly took her hands and began to lead her to the main building, where Sun stood in the doorway.**

" **Let's go!" he called out to them, waving a flashlight. "Come on! Let's go, let's go, let's go!"**

"Sun Wukong to the rescue." Sun said smugly.

"More like private military forces to the rescue." Neptune said.

"Yeah, but I called 'em."

 **A pilot met them as they reached the roof and began to pile into the Bullhead.**

" **What about the others?" Nora yelled to be heard over the Bullhead, "There must be more survivors!"**

" **There's another Bullhead coming!" Sun yelled back.**

 **The door closing behind them, the Bullhead quickly took off and headed back to… wherever it came from, I don't really know. Some kind of ship, maybe?**

 **Rin sat in the reassuring arms of her mother, Penny stared out the window at the rushing canopy below, while Sun sat between them.**

" **Well," he said, reaching into his pocket, "That's one souvenir they won't be taking with them." He let the slugs he took from Sienna's gun fall to the floor.**

 **Bullheads hovered overhead as ropes fell to the ground, allowing men to rappel down safely. Nearby, Salem spoke into a hand-held radio and Sienna sat against the full-body cage holding the T. Rex.**

"That's what I thought." Blake sighed. "The raptors weren't the BBEG, the rex is."

"What's a BBEG?" Weiss asked.

"Big Bad Evil Guy." Yang explained, "And how is that gonna happen? That thing is locked down good."

"How did the dinosaurs circumvent every security protocol on the first island?"

"Someone's gonna fuck up." Coco said.

" **Find the infant tyrannosaur." She said, "Sienna can show you where the nest is. I want it on my transport and taken directly to the infirmary in the Attika complex. Get it done quickly. We need to be out of here before the female realizes what we're up to." She handed off the radio to an aide and walked over to Sienna. "Congratulations are in order, Sienna. You've most likely saved InGen. We've lost everything we came after on this trip, but this animal and it's infant will single handedly bail us out."**

" **Good for you." She said grimly.**

" **You've got your trophy! Buck only. But it's alive, and everyone on the planet is going to line up to appreciate it and everything you've done." Sienna simply hummed and Salem frowned. "Which now begs the question; why aren't you happier?"**

" **Ajay didn't make it." She said simply as she stood up.**

" **I'm sorry. Truly, I am." She walked after Sienna as the latter made her way to a waiting Bullhead.**

" _I highly doubt that."_ Ozpin said in Oscar's head.

" **You know, I remember the people who help me, Sienna. There's a job for you at the park in Attika if you want it."**

" **No, thank you." Sienna said, her voice just a little lighter. "I believe I've spent enough time in the company of death."**

" **Oh my God." Penny said, looking out the window. She quickly opened the door next to her and beckoned over Nora and Sun. Looking out the door, they saw the caged tyrannosaur. Nora knew what was going to happen next. There was no stopping Salem, she knew that. She was the same as Ozpin, and only colossal failure was going to change her mind. The only question was how to best mitigate the damage.**

 **XX**

 **Okay, I'm redoing the vote from last week because I realized too late I didn't inform you all as to the planned pairings. Additionally, the only votes that will count are those that have names attached to them. Anonymous guest votes will not be counted, sorry.**

 **So, the updated options are:**

 **Option 1: animated Disney adventure starring one of the Forgotten Princesses, featuring Arkos.**

 **Option 2: realistic sci-fi space Western, featuring Baked Alaska.**

 **Rules:**

 **1.) only votes sent in reviews for this chapter will count.**

 **2.) anonymous votes will not count.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite, and leave a Review with your vote on what I should do next, and I will catch you later.**


	60. Chapter 60- THe Lost World, Finale

**The votes are in. The decision has been made. The die is cast. On with the finale!**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 60

"Nice fake out with the big bad." Sun commented.

"The king of dinosaurs in the big city. This should be entertaining." Cinder mused, sipping the glass of tea she had ordered.

'Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!' Jaune thought. This was his hometown they were going to, like, the actual, real deal. He assumed his doppelganger was at a dig and so wouldn't be there, but what about the girls? Saphron was probably out in Argus with Terra, and Artoria, Seras, and Joan were all old enough to leave home if they chose, but Lucy was still in high school, and Tanya and Ilya were in elementary school. And then he remembered this was all under the assumption that they were the same in this universe. He wracked his mind with worry until Pyrrha took his hand to comfort him.

 **An InGen helicopter flew past the familiar skyline of downtown Attika. The team had arrived back in Vale a few days earlier and parted ways soon after, Sun getting a flight back to his home in Mistral and Nora making sure Rin got back home safely.**

 **The InGen waterfront complex closely resembled a red carpet event with all the limousines arriving and disgorging a large number of powerful individuals. At the end of the pier, Salem stood at a podium in a flowing black dress that accentuated her curves and drew the eye to the correct places, making a speech even as more guests were filing in.**

" **15 years ago, my brother Ozma had a dream. Like Ozma himself, it was bold, it was grand, it was outsized, it was impractical, it was… not to be." She said, taking a small bit of pleasure in speaking of her big brother so. "However, half an hour from now, Ozma's dream, reimagined, will come true. For 1/100** **th** **the cost of building a destination resort thousands of miles away- "**

 **Nora and Penny stepped out of the red rental car Nora had gotten and walked up to the security guard at the side gate.**

"Nice ride." Taiyang commented, leaning forward. "Looks like either 60s or 70s."

"Too dark red for me." Nora disagreed.

"You would prefer a hot pink?" Pyrrha asked.

Nora shrugged. "Maybe throw a little black, white and gunmetal grey to balance it out, and yeah."

"I like your new hair better when you let it down, Penny." Ruby commented.

"I agree." Penny said cheerily.

" **Hiya. Is this the Ozpin affair?"**

" **I'm sorry, folks, this is private property." The guard said, being as polite as he could despite the hour.**

" **Yeah, but, see we're on the list."**

" **Look, I need you both to get back in your car- "**

" **I'm sorry, but this is very important. This is Dr. Polendina, I'm Dr. Valkyrie."**

" **We have Ms. Ozpin's test results." Penny interjected as the guard began to close the gate on them.**

" **Yes, exactly! See, we got good news and we got bad news- "**

" _I can only imagine."_ Ozpin chuckled in Oscar's head, making the boy laugh along.

" **Tonight, we will christen Jurassic Park, Attika, with a mega-attraction that will rival any theme park in the entire world." Salem said, continuing her speech. She saw the gate closing in the distance, and smiled when she saw Nora and Penny behind it. "I want to thank you all for turning up at this forsaken hour of the morning- "**

 **The harbormaster walked up to Salem.**

" **The ship is here." He said in Salem's ear.**

 **Salem put her hand over the mic to block the sound. "It's early?"**

'I do so hate when things do not go to plan.' Salem frowned. She was taking a break from the food, allowing it to sit and digest before she ordered any more, and was sipping from a glass of wine while gently patting one of the wolves that stood sentinel to either side of her.

" **It's- you better come look at this." He insisted.**

 **Salem put a smile on her face. "So exciting!" she said to the audience. As she left the podium, she pulled one of the security guards aside. "Do you see that lost-looking couple over there?" she pointed at Nora and Penny.**

" **Ma'am, you really need to see this." The harbormaster urged.**

" **Let them in. I want them to see this up close."**

" **Yes, Ms. Ozpin." The guard answered.**

" _That's new. I've never known Salem to have much of an ego."_ Ozpin commented.

"People can change over the course of centuries." Oscar said. "Kind of like how you're letting me have more control lately."

" _Are you complaining?"_

"No, just an observation."

" **Keep trying." A man said as Salem entered the harbor control room. "I want a direct line to Beacon and the Coast Guard, yesterday!"**

" **Look," the man said, pointing at a radar monitor, "That's their transponder signal, Venture 5888. They're headed into port, but I can't raise 'em."**

" **Try again." Salem said as the signal got closer to the port.**

" **Skipper,** _ **SS Venture,**_ **this is InGen harbormaster, do you copy? Over." There came no reply and the signal dot kept creeping closer. "Skipper,** _ **SS Venture,**_ **you are approaching the breakwater at flank speed. Reduce at once. Over."**

"Something's happened." Blake realized with a frown.

"Most people don't realize they are at their most vulnerable while traveling." Cinder commented.

"She would know, wouldn't she?" Roman whispered to Neo.

 **The security guard led Nora and Penny onto the dock while Salem was in the office. As they approached the group of investors, the muttering crowd ceased and turned to look out over the water, hearing a low rumbling coming from it.**

" **What's everybody looking at?" Penny wondered aloud.**

 **Nora looked out into the darkness and her eyes widened. "We should have stayed in the damn car."**

 **The rumbling grew louder as Salem stepped out of the control room. As she did, a massive cargo ship became visible on the water. And it was not slowing down for anything. The people on the dock ran for it back to their cars as the ship tore into the dock. It slowed down the further it went in, until, at about the half-way mark of the ship, it ground to a halt.**

"That's a hell of an entrance." Yang commented, with a weak chuckle.

 **A security guard rushed over and helped Salem to her feet.**

" **Are you okay, Ms. Ozpin?" he asked.**

" **I don't know, how do I look?" she asked, half-joking.**

 **The two walked through the mess of fallen people and others helping them up, and onto the ship, Nora nd Penny hot on their tails. The deck of the ship was a mess, but then, that's to be expected when you crash into a dock and through the harbor control room. The security guard walked up a staircase to the bridge of the ship, and gasped in horror at what he saw within.**

" **Where's the crew?" Salem asked, coming up behind him.**

 **The officer gulped. "All over the place." He answered, feeling like he was about to be sick. Salem saw why as he moved further in and saw a severed hand hanging off the wheel. She covered her mouth, more to prevent herself from vomiting than to hide any look of shock.**

"What the hell happened?" Blake asked.

" _That, Ms. Belladonna, is one of the biggest mysteries in recent cinema history. This situation never happened in the novel, so we must simply speculate."_

"Maybe it was one of the rexes?" Yang guessed.

"No. The adult would have been safely locked in the cargo hold for the entire trip. Hopefully kept heavily sedated." Weiss said, her chin in her hand.

"Then, maybe it was the baby."

"No. Salem specifically ordered it to be transported separately from the adult."

"Raptors?"

" _Possible. In the novel for the first film, it was mentioned that a group of Velociraptors had snuck onto a supply ship and that a few had made it to the mainland and were hiding out in the jungle."_

"I don't see it happening, though." Summer argued, "It's not in the nature of animals to go that far in the search for food. Only people and Grimm show that kind of thinking."

 **Out on the deck, Nora and Penny were looking around, trying to piece things together. Which was just a little difficult with the repetitive whirring of the motors for the partially open doors to the cargo hold right behind them. Nora found the control console for it and saw a hand holding down one of the buttons on a remote control.**

 **Salem came out from the bridge. "Check the cargo hold! There may be crew down there!"**

"Idiot." Salem said, knowing full well who she was insulting.

Cinder blinked, not sure of what she had just heard. She shook it off. Surely not.

" **Everybody off the boat!" Nora yelled. She saw one of the guards find the remote and pull it from the hand's grip. She leapt at the man, telling him not touch it, but it was too late.**

 **The adult T. Rex burst from the cargo hold with a roar, chasing after the people who scrambled to get off the deck. Salem watched in horror as the beast walked down the make-shift ramp and continued its' pursuit. Thankfully, the guests had been evacuated, so all that was left was security guards who wisely chose to jump into the water and swim for safety.**

 **Nora came up behind Salem and whispered in her ear. "Now you're Ozma Ozpin."**

"Valkyries keep their promises, ya blonde bitch!" Nora taunted the on-screen Salem.

"Except when they don't." Jaune said with a smug grin.

"Quiet, you."

 **The tyrannosaur chased a few more guard through the entrance to the harbor, stopping at a rocky outcropping. It inhaled and roared at the unsuspecting city just across the water from it.**

" **Why the hell wasn't it tranquilized?" Penny asked a security guard as he scrambled to check the damage and help his coworkers.**

" **It was." He said, flustered, "Sienna hit it with two darts of concentrated Carfentanil. Over ten milligrams."**

" **Ten milligrams?! That should have put it into a coma!"**

" **It stopped breathing, so we gave naltrezone to counter act the effects, but we did know how much to give it."**

" **You administered an antagonist without knowing the proper dosage?! You put the animal in a narcoleptic state. It's a locomotive now."**

"Put simply children, don't mess with things you know absolutely nothing about." Glynda said.

"Especially when powerful drugs are involved." Ozcar agreed.

" **Look, we're prepared for this."**

"I sincerely doubt that." Emerald quipped.

" **Better question; are there any more dinosaurs on the boat?" Nora asked.**

" **No, we brought the infant in on a plane. Look, we had this to tranquilize it." he grunted as he pulled out a tranquilizer gun from within a transport truck.**

 **Penny had moved on and was looking up at Salem, who was sitting above them. "Hey, do you have the infant?"**

" **It's safe." Salem said forlornly.**

" _In all the time I've known her, I've never heard Salem that defeated."_ Ozpin said, once again amazed.

" **Nora," Penny said as she pulled Nora aside, "The animal's dehydrated, so the first thing it's gonna do is find a water source and then it's gonna find the next thing it's body needs."**

' **Meaning food.' Nora thought. 'Which means meat, which unfortunately means people.'**

" **All the containment equipment is here, we just need to get it back to the dock. The boat might still be seaworthy."**

" **Okay, so, am I thinking what you're about to say?"**

" **When we brought the baby to the trailer, it came. There's no reason to think the same won't happen again."**

 **Nora sighed, knowing her girlfriend was right. "Yup."**

"Are they doing this?" Jaune said, having pieced their plan together. "Are they seriously doing this?"

 **Up above, Penny knelt next to Salem. "Where's the infant?" she asked her.**

 **Salem looked to her, still in shock. "It's in a secured facility, why?"**

 **Nora squatted down in front of her. "Where's the facility?"**

"Yes, friend Jaune, we are seriously doing this right now." Penny agreed.

"This is a horrible plan." Blake said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"I'm game. Let's do this." Nora said excitedly.

 **Elsewhere, the adult Tyrannosaur was walking through a suburban neighborhood, sniffing the air in it's search for water. It turned and walked in between two houses, knocking over a stone wall in the process. To it's left, it saw a pool in the backyard of a house and moved closer to it.**

Jaune's fear grip on his armrest tightened. He knew that neighborhood. It was maybe five miles from his own house. What he couldn't figure out was how the big bastard had managed to get through downtown and into a suburban neighborhood, quickly and without being seen. You'd think something like this would be all over the news.

 **Inside said house, a small boy slept with a fish tank illuminated next to him as a pseudo-night light. He felt the tremors from the tyrannosaurs' walking and slowly woke up. He sat up in his bed and yawned. Looking out his window, he saw the darkness telling him he was awake far too early. Then, he saw the head of the T. Rex looking in at him. The beast let out a low, rumbling growl, warning him to not interfere. Calmly, the boy rolled out of his bed and walked to his parent's room.**

 **Outside, the rex began to lap up water from the pool, but it was rather annoyed that the family dog was barking at it. The boxer pulled on it's chain, carrying its doghouse closer to the pool, but the rex let out a short roar of warning. The dog wisely retreated to it's shelter and resumed barking.**

" **There's a dinosaur in our backyard." The boy told his sleeping parents. They either didn't hear him or were ignoring him, so he grabbed their sheets and began to pull them off. At the loss of their contained body heat, his parents groaned as they awoke.**

" **Benjamin, what are you doing?" his father asked, while his mother groaned into her pillow.**

" **Come on!" he said impatiently.**

" **What?"**

" **There's a dinosaur in our backyard." He said and his parents groaned as they got out of bed.**

 **They argued quietly about why this kind of thing kept happening with their son, as said son impatiently pushed them down the hall into his room. The father insisted that he needed to be fed so he could stay asleep through the night, while the mother insisted that he needed a proper night light instead of the fish tank. The father stopped dead in his tracks when he looked out the window. Curious his wife joined him and saw the tyrannosaur chewing on something, with a chain dangling from its mouth attached to a doghouse. The chain snapped and the doghouse fell, smashing on the ground.**

"Not the doggo!" Ruby wailed.

"I'm gonna punch this thing right in its stupid face!" Yang growled, her eyes red.

"Huntress vs a T. Rex? I'd pay good money to see that." Mercury jeered.

"With what money, dickhead? You're broke." Emerald remarked.

"Never said it would my money, did I?"

"… Fair enough."

 **The young boy jumped up on his bed, camera in hand and took a picture. The flash startled the tyrannosaur, causing it to roar and the parents to scream.**

 **At the InGen Jurassic Park complex, the guards at the front gate walked out of their little booth and started motioning at something, telling it to slow down. But Nora did not slow down. There was no time to slow down. She gunned the motor and rammed through the metal barriers into the complex. They sped through the arena and into the holding area.**

 **Penny, seeing the infant, jumped out of the car and ran to its cage. Nora held up the door as her girlfriend inspected the infant.**

" **He's been sedated." She said, inspected the infant's dilated eyes, "Really heavily. Give me a hand." She lifted the baby into her arms and carried it to the car. Nora held open the passenger-side rear door as Penny climbed in.**

" **You know, if the adult sees us once again with its' child, won't he be like, 'You!'? You know, like some kind of angry recognition?" she asked.**

" **Who knows?" Penny answered, carefully putting on her seat belt, "He may be just happy to see us."**

"Again, I love the banter you two have." Blake commented. "It really feels natural."

" **Hey! What the hell are you doing?" a security guard yelled as Nora climbed into her convertible, gun pointed at her.**

" **We're taking the kid." She said simply, closing her door. "You really want to stop us? Shoot us."**

"Man, say what you will about her, but Pinky has got some basketball-sized, brass balls on her." Roman whispered.

"Daring the guy who has you at gunpoint to shoot you is a very Nora thing to do." Jaune commented with a smirk.

"Yup, just gonna sit here and keep being awesome." Nora said, reclining her chair, kicking up her feet and putting her hands behind her head.

" **How will we find the adult?" Penny asked as Nora backed out of the arena.**

" **Simple: follow the screams." Nora told her.**

 **Sure enough, a woman screamed as she shifted her car into reverse and floored the gas. People screamed around her as she ran into another car with a crash. However, the civilians were more concerned with the massive, fuck-off dinosaur chasing them through the streets of Downtown Attika with a hungry look in it's eye.**

"See, this is more what I was expecting." Cinder said with a smile.

"Penny did say it would go for food after it found water." Ruby groaned.

"Not in so many words, but I think we all knew it deep down." Weiss sighed.

 **A bus turned onto the same street and sped past it. The driver urged the passengers to get to the other side of the bus as the Rex came up alongside it and held pace with the vehicle. It rammed it's head up into the bus, throwing people out the other side and creating a massive cave-in at the front entrance. With the driver now unconscious, bus drove straight into a movie rental store, causing the patrons within to scatter.**

 **More civilians ran from the T. Rex, running over cars in their desperation. One man made the mistake of breaking off from the pack in an attempt to find refuge in a nearby building. It probably would have worked if he had been further up in the pack. However, the Rex caught him in his jaws and bit down hard before placing him on the ground and beginning to eat.**

 **Nora pulled up to an intersection just outside downtown and saw the crowd fleeing from the beast.**

" **Here we go." She muttered. Quickly, she pulled off the road into a gas station. She urged Penny to wake up the infant. "It won't come near us if we can't get it to make some kind of sound!"**

" **Come on, kid. Wake up! Wake up!" Penny said, lightly shaking the infant, making it groan.**

 **The Rex sniffed the air and let out a roar.**

"I think it knows." Yang commented.

"Captain Obvious." Blake said, giving Yang a mocking salute.

"Brat." Yang chuckled back.

" **He knows." Penny said. Nora jolted as the gas station's signature 76 ball logo was knocked from it's perch and rolled past them. Nora peeled backwards out of the gas station, the adult hot on their tails as Penny pulled off the baby's muzzle, allowing it hoot and howl once again.**

" **Yeah, Nora, slow down a little." Penny said as Nora righted the car and floored it.**

 **Nora looked back, flashes of Isla Nublar hitting her. "Uh, I don't think so."**

"After what happened to her on the other island, I don't blame her." Emerald commented.

"Seriously, what was the point of not going all out when you're being chased by fucking T. Rex?" Mercury agreed.

"Aww, the kids are finally getting along." Torchwick mocked them, with Neo rolling her eyes at his antics.

 **A squadron of police cars pulled up as they entered the harbor area, along with a department of animal control van. The Rex roared at them, making every car freeze and then immediately turn around and go back the way they came.**

 **Nora and Penny sped past empty and half-empty warehouses on their way back to the ship.**

" **This guy's almost fully awake." Penny said, "Do you know where you're going?"**

" **Yeah, the waterfront's right on the other side of these warehouses." Nora assured.**

" **Is there any way through?"**

" **If not, then…" her convertible burst through the wall of one of the warehouses and pulled to a stop in the middle of it.**

"Once again, a very Nora move." Jaune commented with a grin.

"Sometimes the only way to solve a problem is with brute force." Nora defended.

"So long as the problem can't fight back." Yang said, rubbing her prosthetic arm and remembering her dad's advice.

" **There we go." She hopped out of the car, ran around to the other side and took the infant from Penny. "Alright, you have to follow me now."**

" **Where's the Rex?" Penny asked as she got out and ran after Nora. "Is it still behind us?"**

 **As if in answer to her question, the beast rammed through the same wall they had gone through, chasing after them. The pair wound their way through the maze of warehouses, trying to put extra distance between them and the adult while making their way to the boat.**

" **Shoot it." Salem said into her scroll. "Yes, tell them to shoot it." She saw Nora and Penny run past her car with the infant in hand. She scrambled to get out and follow them. "No, you idiot. Shoot the adult, I want the baby back alive." She chased after the two gingers as best her dress allowed, down the ramp onto the dock and up the wreckage onto the deck of the ship.**

" **Dr. Valkyrie!" she yelled out. Looking around, she saw the pair run from the cargo hold and jump overboard, landing in the waters below. "What have you done with it? I want that infant!" she heard a howling behind her echoing up from the hold. Cautiously, she walked into the entrance. "Are you there?"**

"And now I'm getting death flags for her." Blake said.

"Not exactly a devastating loss." Weiss shrugged.

'The first movie was a lot better than this one.' Ruby thought to herself.

 **Descending into the hold, she quickly realized just how dark it was, even with some of the lighting on. As she made her way to the bottom, she stepped on something metallic. Picking it up, she recognized it as the infant's muzzle. She heard a small growling nearby and looked up to see the infant growling at her from behind a wall of thin netting.**

" **There you are." She said with a disingenuous smile. She quickly tried to get the muzzle back on the animal, but it quickly escaped past her. She tracked it find that it had run behind the leg of its parent.**

 **Salem quickly backed up to the wall, moving slowly along it, trying to find a way out. She tried to lose it in some cover, but she made too much noise as she ran for the stairs. As she ascended, the adult grabbed by the legs and deposited her back on the floor of the cargo hold. As she tried to crawl away, she felt a pair of eyes upon her. Looking back, she saw the infant looming over her before it pounced on her.**

"Karma can be so poetic sometimes." Yang sighed.

'That took longer than I expected.' Salem mused. 'My bets were on my idiotic counterpart dying on the island, most likely at the hands of those fascinating Velociraptor creatures.'

 **As her screams echoed out of the hold, Penny ran up onto the bridge, holding an air rifle in her hands and a tranquilizer dart between her teeth. As she began to load the weapon and take aim, Nora reached the deck controls for the hold and slammed her hand on the close button. The adult roared as it noticed its prison closing in on it once again. Above her, a Bullhead circled, a man with a military assault rifle taking aim from the side.**

 **Before he could fire, Penny took her shot, hitting the beast in the neck. It howled in pain, and seemed to almost glare at Nora as the bay doors closed shut above it. Nora sighed as she heard the mechanical locks move in place.**

" _ **And there's a really first-rate shot at the deck of the ship."**_ **Lisa Lavender reported a few days later.** _ **"And the cargo hold that, for the moment, anyway, contains the animal itself, presumably with the infant alongside. Now, by our calculations, they should be nearing the half-way point of this trip. Cyril, can you still hear me?"**_

"Okay, so, random thought," Nora said, her brow furrowing, "But is it just me, or does Lisa Lavender sounds a scary amount like Pyrrha?"

"What?" Pyrrha asked, confused and a little embarrassed.

"Listen."

 **Rin looked over at her mother, and saw that she and Penny had fallen asleep in each other's arms. Not exactly surprising considering all the shit they had been through in the past week or so. They had more than earned their rest. She was brought back to reality as the live news broadcast continued.**

" _ **Yes, I can, Lisa. We are in fact half-way to the island. It currently 206 nautical miles from our present location. We're moving at about 20 knots, which should put our arrival at somewhere around 11:30 am, Valean Eastern Time.**_

" _ **One of the biggest concerns throughout this voyage has been safety, and as you can see by the ever-growing escort around the ship, neither Vale nor any other Kingdom is willing to repeat the Attika Incident."**_

" _ **Alright, now, we'd like to take this time to run the tape of our interview earlier today with Ozma Ozpin."**_ **Lisa said, which made Rin put down her popcorn and get a bit closer to the TV. Her mom had told her about Ozpin, but she wanted to see what the man had to say for herself.** _ **"He is the former head of InGen Bio-Engineering, and the man who is now spearheading this movement, not only to return these animals to their environment, but ensure the island itself remains intact."**_

"Holy crap, she does!" Yang said, her eyes widening.

"That is scary close." Weiss agreed.

"That is not how I sound. Right, Jaune?"

"I will never watch Vale News the same way again." Jaune muttered to himself.

" _ **It is absolutely imperative,"**_ **Ozpin said, sitting at a table and wearing his familiar green and black suit,** _ **"That not only Vale, but all the Kingdoms, work with the Chiefdom of Menagerie and their Department of Biological Preserves to establish a set of rules governing the preservation and isolation of that island. These animals require our absence to survive, not our help. And if we could just step aside, and trust in in nature, life will find a way."**_

 **On the island, the adult Tyrannosaurs were playing(?) with their child while a herd of Stegosaurs walked past in a column. A pterosaur alighted on the top of a nearby tree and let out a yell that mingled with the grunts and roars of the other denizens of InGen's artificial Lost World.**

"Mmmm, I liked that." Yang commented as she stood and stretched.

"I did too," Blake agreed, "But I heard Logan mention that this movie and it's predecessor where book adaptations and that has me just a bit interested."

" _Done."_

Blake's scroll hummed. Taking it out, she saw that she now had a pair of new audio books in her inventory. "Huh, thanks."

" _I hope you enjoy them as much as I did."_

"Glad I got to be in another movie." Sun commented. "The music was great as always, but I gotta wonder why I've only had supporting roles thus far."

"Come on, man, this is only, what? The second movie you've been in? Give it some time." Neptune assured his best friend.

XX

 **I don't know why I even bothered to do a re-vote. A few reviewers changed their minds based on the ship options, but the count was basically the same, with the Disney-Arkos movie beating the Sci-fi- Baked Alaska movie by a factor of 2.5:1.**

 **Also, for the folks who don't know, the Baked Alaska ship is Yang x Neo. A bit of a crack ship, but still cute at times when Neo isn't being portrayed as a sado-masochist.**

 **Also, I would like to apologize if it seemed like I was half-assing it on the reactions with this one. There's no excuse for it, but honestly, The Lost World is my least favorite of the Jurassic Park movies, plus I was writing this one with barely enough time before I had to post the chapters each week, instead of being a few chapters ahead like I usually am. I promise that I will try to do better with the next film.**

 **Before I sign off, I do have a pretty big announcement to make. Ever since the start of all this, you all have asked me to do a certain series of films, and I have continually declined, citing a lack of available characters to fill every role necessary. Additionally, a friend of mine in the sites community was already making a go at it. I am somewhat pleased to tell you, this is no longer the case.**

 **BUT! In order to do so, I have a challenge for you all. The current count of followers this story has sits at 1,188, which is still insane to me. Let's get even more crazy. If we can reach 2,000 followers by this story's 2** **nd** **anniversary, the MCU will replace all future filler chapters and go in order from Iron Man to Endgame.**

 **TL;DR: The MCU is on the table, but only you guys can make it happen. In the meantime, I will be composing cast lists for the heroes and brainstorming ideas, so please, if you have suggestions, leave them in a review, but don't expect them to be followed if this goes down.**

 **So, what say you? Challenge accepted? I hope so.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite and leave a Review, and I will catch you all in two weeks time.**

 **Next Update: 2/11/20**


	61. Chapter 61

**Welcome back guys. Time for our next movie, and it's one of my favorites.**

 **MCU tracker: 1,242/2,000 followers. There's plenty of time. I know you all can do it.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 61

" _And now for something a little bit different."_

"What do you think he means by that?" Yang asked Blake, who simply shrugged.

"… **in a single day and night of misfortune, the island of Atlantis disappeared into the depths of the sea."**

 **-Ozma, 360 BCE**

"Oh my- Really?" Weiss complained loudly.

"The hell's with you Weiss Cream?" Yang asked, somewhat surprised.

"Atlantis? Really? It's a fairy tale. A myth!"

"It's a movie, Weiss. Now shut up and eat your Skittles." Ruby said sternly, surprising everyone.

 **The scene opened on a shot of a tranquil ocean near dusk. Suddenly, a massive explosion lit the horizon, the shockwave driving away the clouds, allowing one to actually see the shockwave as it did so. Large, stone fish-like constructs raced from the explosion- some kind of air force, perhaps- a mighty wave rose up behind them.**

" _ **You fool! You've destroyed us all!"**_ **a pilot of one of the smaller fish-like craft yelled at one of his comrades in a language no one in the audience understood, not even Salem.**

" _ **The wave is gaining! We have to warn Atlantis!"**_ **another yelled as the mighty force of nature began to overtake the craft behind them.**

"Is this thing animated?" Weiss said in exasperation. "Are we seriously watching a children's movie?"

"Cartoons aren't just for kids, Weiss." Yang said.

"True that." Blake agreed. "I can think of quite a few animated shows that are definitely not meant for children."

"And then there are some with subtext that you don't even notice until you're our age."

"Will the parents in the room please back me up here?" Weiss asked.

"Sorry, kid, but I agree with them." Taiyang said. "I have an extensive list of cartoons from my childhood that I still enjoy as an adult."

"Same here." Kali agreed, with Summer and Ghira nodding along. Weiss looked to Winter, who simply shrugged. She sat back down and sunk into her seat in dejection.

 **Those at the very front raced across the ocean to the shoreline, and then over rolling, grassy hills to a large, advanced-looking yet ancient city. Over the city, red beams of light scanned the streets. As the remaining craft blazed past the sentry towers, one of the guards manning it looked to see what could cause such haste- upon seeing the massive tidal wave, he turned to a primitive paging system.**

" _ **Everyone to the shelters! Repeat, everyone to the shelters!"**_

"I'm actually interested in this." Velvet said, taking a small notepad from an internal pocket in her vest. She borrowed Blake's pen and began taking notes. "Most of the stuff you hear about Atlantis is pseudohistory or pseudoscience- meaning that any presented evidence lacks any kind of standard or criteria- but this is presenting us with something that at least looks historically accurate. For the time period."

"I think I even see some Faunus running around there." Blake commented.

 **His voice somehow echoed across the city, causing panic as the wave eclipsed the sun, the red beams of light providing the only real source of light. As the citizenry panicked, a soldier led what was clearly the rulers of the city through the streets. They all had fair skin and predominantly white hair. The mother pulled her frightened daughter along, urging her forward, but the young girl was fighting her daughter. The girl had dropped her doll was simply trying to get it back, not realizing the danger such actions presented.**

" _ **Pyrrha! Just leave it! there's no time!"**_ **the girl's mother said, kneeling down before her daughter to try and emphasize the point.**

"Oh, good, another one starring me." Pyrrha grimaced.

"You don't like being in these?" Nora asked.

"I'm sorry. I lived my entire life in the spotlight and eventually began to resent it. Old habits, I guess."

 **The red light washed over the woman, who looked up as the light turned pale blue-white. Her eyes filled with the same light and the crystal on the necklace she wore lifted into the air. Her husband, a bear of a man whose white hair was streaked with red, turned and saw what was happening to his wife, and instantly knew her fate.**

 **The lights converged on Pyrrha's mother as the people continued to flee to safety. They merged into a single fine beam of light centered on the crystal necklace and let out a burst of light before forming another large beam. Pyrrha's mother began to lift into the air, taking her daughter's bracelet as she did. Pyrrha grabbed for her mother as she was pulled into the light.**

 **A barrier of light began to surround the citadel of the city as people and aircraft tried and failed to make it in, but there was nothing more that could be done.**

 **The wave crashed into the city, destroying the stone architecture of statues and homes, and drowning the poor souls left in its way. The shield finished forming over the heads of Pyrrha and her father and the entirety of what was under it sank into the ground as the waters overtook what remained of the city. Minutes later, all that remained was still ocean waters beneath stormy skies.**

"That was a little hardcore for a children's movie, don't you think Weiss?" Yang asked, ribbing Weiss, who simply turned her nose up at the blonde.

 **Atlantis: The Lost Empire**

 **City of Vale**

 **1914**

 **The streets of Vale were bustling with people, and not a car in sight. Deep within the city's natural history museum, Jaune Arc stood behind a podium before a group of old men, the museum's board of directors and trustees. Behind him stood a map of Remnant, and next to him was a chalkboard that had runic symbols written on it with the words 'EDGE OF MISTRAL' written beneath them. He himself was dressed in a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows under an olive vest, black dress pants and shoes, and a red bowtie around his neck.**

"Alright, looking like another Arkos movie." Nora said.

"Our ship name is our team attack name?" Jaune asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Keep It Simple, Stupid." Nora told him.

"What even was that attack supposed to be?" Ruby asked.

"Y'know, thinking back on it, I can't really remember beyond using our shields for something." Jaune said with embarrassment.

 **He coughed, clearing his throat. "Good afternoon, gentlemen. First off, I'd like to thank this board for taking the time to hear my proposal. Now, we've all heard the legend of Atlantis, a continent somewhere in the southern area of the Great Ocean, that was home to an advanced civilization possessing technology far beyond our own." He tapped on a marble bust next to him with a wooden dowel. "That, according to our friend Ozma here, was suddenly struck by a cataclysmic event that sank it beneath the waves.**

" **Now," he pulled a set of large cards from within the podium and began to flip through them rapidly, "Someone of you may be wondering 'why Atlantis? It's just a myth, right? Pure fantasy.' Well, that is where you would be wrong. 10,000 years before the Ancient Vacuans built the pyramids, Atlantis had electricity, advanced medicine, even the power of flight! Impossible, you say, but no, not for them. Numerous ancient cultures around the world agree that Atlantis possessed a power source of some kind. More power than steam, than-than coal! More powerful even than our Dust-powered internal combustion engine. Gentlemen, I propose that we find Atlantis, find that power source, and bring it to the surface."**

"So his plan is to break the world of its' Dust dependency?" Weiss asked. "I don't see that happening."

"And why is that, Ice Queen?" Jaune asked.

"For the same reason it hasn't happened already; money." She explained, "The dust industry is the biggest and possibly the most important in the world. Though the SDC is the biggest and most well-known, there are dozens of other Dust manufacturers across Remnant. If you introduce something that can even compete with them, they will do whatever it takes to bury it so they can maintain their control and, more importantly, their wealth."

"Awfully pessimistic, don't you think?"

"It's how the world of the rich and powerful works, much as I hate it."

 **He turned to another card. "Now, this is a page from an illuminated text describing a book called 'The Shepard's Journal', said to be a first-hand account of Atlantis, and it's exact whereabouts. Now, based on a centuries-old translation of a Solitan text discovered near the city of Argus in Mistral, historians believe the Journal resides in Mistral." Jaune rolled his eyes at this. "But, after comparing the text to the runes on this Solitan warrior shield," Jaune grunted as he hefted the shield, "I discovered that several letters had been mistranslated. So, by changing these letters," he crossed out all the letters in Mistral except for the M "and inserting the correct ones, we find that the Shepard's Journal, the key to Atlantis, lies not in Mistral, but in Mantle." He wrote the name out.**

" **Pause for effect." He muttered to himself before he put down the shield. "Ah. Gentlemen, I'll take your questions now." A phone rang out behind his chalkboard. Like an actual bell phone, not a scroll. "Uh, will you gentlemen just excuse me, for just a moment?" he walked around the chalkboard and picked up the antique-looking phone. "Cartography and linguistics, Jaune Arc speaking." He said proudly. An angry voice came from the ear piece. "Oh, yeah, sure. Hang on just a sec." He set the receiver down and walked to the other side of the room, turning on the rest of the lights in the room as he went. The board room was revealed to be a boiler room that doubled as Jaune's office, if the maps and books lining the walls were any indication. Jaune walked past his faux board- which consisted of skeletons, masks and busts wearing hats- up to the boiler.**

"Okay, a mock presentation. That makes more sense." Weiss commented.

" **Pardon me, Mr. Belladonna." He said to a mask as he moved it aside. He twisted a few valves on the boiler and gave it a solid whack with a wrench, making the old beast roar to life. "How's that? Is that better?" he asked into the receiver. The loud voice muttered an affirmative and thanks. "Uh, yeah, no problem." He walked back to his presentation and picked up where he left off. "Now, gentlemen, if you'll look at this map that I've drawn up, I've plotted the route that will take myself and a crew to the southern coast of Solitas to retrieve the Journal."**

 **He was interrupted when a cuckoo clock alerted him to the time; 4 pm, 15 minutes before his scheduled meeting with the board.**

" **Ah, show time." he said as he gathered up his things. He took a deep breath. "Alright, this is it, I am finally getting out of the dungeon. Before he left, he stopped at his desk and looked at the picture of him, his sisters, and their Grandpa Johnathan. He smiled, remembering that day. He was seven at the time. Grandpa John had taken him on his knee and given him his own pith helmet. Unfortunately, Jaune's head was still a little too small, and when he put the headgear on, it slid down on his head.**

"That is both my luck and my Grandpa John for you." Jaune smiled wistfully.

 **Jaune took out that same helmet and put it on. As it always did, it slid down on his head. As Jaune adjusted it on his head so that he could see, a letter tube arrived at his chute. He took the letter out of the case and read it aloud.**

" **Dear Mr. Arc, this is to inform you that your meeting today has been moved up from 4:15 pm to 3:15 pm." Jaune frowned and looked at the clock, already reading 4:05. "What?" Another letter arrived. "Dear Mr. Arc, due to your absence, the board has voted to reject your proposal. Have a nice weekend. Mr. Schnee's Office? They can't do this to me!"**

 **The board members laughed as they left the message office, Jacques Schnee in the center, the clear leader.**

"Oh, for the love of…" Weiss sighed, knowing exactly whose idea that letter stunt had been.

" **I swear, that Arc boy gets crazier every year!" Ghira Belladonna said.**

" **If I ever hear the word Atlantis again, I'll jump in front of a bus!" Raven Branwen joked.**

" **Ha! My wife will push you." Ghira joked, giving Raven a small shove.**

" **Mr. Schnee!" Jaune yelled, chasing after the board members, umbrella and maps in hand. "Members of the board! Please, wait!"**

" **Scatter!" Jacques yelled. The individual board members ran in different directions, most of them making for their personal offices. However, Jaune knew that Jacques had the most influence, so he followed the white-haired man as he ran out of the museum to his waiting car.**

" **This museum," Jacques said once he was safely in his car, "Funds scientific expeditions based on facts, not legends and folklore. Besides, we need you, here. We depend on you."**

"I know that look." Weiss said, "Jaune, I'm sorry in advance for what is about to happen."

"What?" What is about to happen?"

" **You do?" Jaune asked apprehensively.**

" **Of course." He smiled. "What with winter coming, that boiler is going to need a lot of attention."**

" **Boiler?" Jaune said, confused for a moment, as Jacques signaled his driver to go.**

"That son of a…" Jaune said indignantly.

"Sorry." Weiss winced.

 **Recovering quickly, Jaune ran after the car, easily keeping pace with it. He pulled out a map and showed it to the man. "But- but there's a journal! It's in Mantle! I'm sure of it this time!" Jacques irritatedly closed the blinds next to him. He jumped when he saw Jaune laying on the hood of his car. "Sir, I really didn't want to do this, but," he pulled a piece of paper out of his coat pocket, "This is a letter of resignation. If you reject my proposal- woah!" the driver swerved several times, causing Jaune to slide off the car. "I'LL QUIT!" he roared.**

 **The car stopped and backed up towards him, Jacques Schnee looking at him with cold eyes.**

" **I mean it, sir. If you refuse to fund my proposal- "**

" **You'll what?" Jacques said, calling his bluff. "Flush your career down the toilet just like your grandfather? You have a lot of potential, Jaune. Don't waste it all chasing fairy tales."**

" **But I can prove Atlantis exists."**

" **You want to go on an expedition? Here." He took a 25 lien coin from his wallet and tossed it at Jaune. "Take a trolley to the river and jump in! Maybe the cold water will clear your head." He signaled his driver, who intentionally drove into a puddle and splashed Jaune as he left.**

"And now I want to take a swing at your old man." Jaune growled.

"Welcome to the club, we have jackets." Weiss said.

 **It was with broken spirits that Jaune returned to his apartment that stormy night. It was a modest thing, the best he could safely afford on his salary. One bedroom, one bath, with a combined living room-kitchen. Being a single man's place, it was naturally in a state of organized chaos, with a worn couch and a single chair surrounding a coffee table.**

" **I'm home!" he called out to his ever-faithful chocolate lab puppy. "Emma? Where's my little bear?" He tried to turn on the light, but nothing happened. He lowered his head with a sigh. Either he had forgotten to pay the electric bill, or the storm had caused a blackout. Considering the lights were on in the hall, he was leaning towards the latter.**

 **Lightning flashed and he noticed a female form standing by the window on the other side of his apartment.**

" **Jaune Arc?" she asked in a sultry tone.**

" **Who the hell are you? How'd you get in here?" he asked, his body too tired for fear or anger, and so just settled for irritation.**

" **I came down the chimney. Ho, ho, ho." She sat down in his chair, the ambient light letting him get a better look at her. She had dark, smooth skin, with stripe-like tattoos running down her subtly muscled arms. Her hair was black in the light, but he knew he saw a pair of cat ears sticking up from her head. A faunus, a rarity outside of Menagerie. She wore a low-cut, sleeveless black dress with a slit that exposed a fair amount of leg.**

" **My name is Sienna Khan. I'm here on behalf of my employer, who has a most intriguing proposition for you. Are you interested?"**

" **Your employer?" Jaune asked as he started to look for his emergency flashlight. "Who is your employer, dare I ask?"**

"I'm not sorry about this," Yang said, "Blake, your godmother is hot."

"Yang!"

"I'll take it." Sienna grinned, knowing full well that Ilia's nose was probably bleeding right about now. She may have eyes for Blake, but she also had a thing for cat faunus in general.

 **The next thing Jaune knew, he was being driven past a metal gate emblazoned with a stylized 'B.O.' above it and a sign that read 'OOBLECK', up to a mansion atop a hill. The inside of the mansion was covered in large portraits of a man with green hair and large thick glasses, and several forms of antique weaponry. Servants were waiting at the door to take their coats for them.**

" **This way, please." Sienna said, leading him through the foyer. "And don't drip on the Caravaggio." She led him to an elevator. "Step lively now, Mr. Oobleck doesn't like to be kept waiting." As the elevator began descending, Sienna began to fix up his appearance as best she could while also giving him a short briefing. "You will address him as 'Mr. Oobleck' or 'Sir'. You will stand unless asked to be seated. You will keep your sentences short and to the point. Are we clear?" Jaune gulped nervously in response. Once the elevator had stopped, Jaune stepped out and Sienna couldn't resist adding, "And relax, he doesn't bite. Much." She closed the door and rode the lift back up.**

* * *

 **A lot of you guys knew this was coming, and for that I am proud. Personally, this one of my top 5 favorite Disney movies, with Kida being my all-time favorite Disney princess.**

 **I don't have too much more to say, so I'll see you all again next week.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite and leave a Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 2/18/20**


	62. Chapter 62- Atlantis, Part 2

**I'm so glad you guys liked what you read last week. I have been having a blast writing this, and your support makes it all the more worth it.**

 **MCU Tracker:** **1,264/2,000**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 62

 **Jaune looked around the room. The one wall was lined with a bookshelf that stretched to the ceiling and was filled with neatly ordered books. The wall opposite it was a massive aquarium housing several kinds of exotic fish of all sizes. He thought to be some kind of study or den, but his eyes were drawn to the far wall. It housed a large fireplace in which a fire was crackling with warmth. Above it was another portrait of the man, his green hair almost completely faded to white-grey, and he was shaking hands with…**

" **Grandpa?" Jaune said out loud.**

"No way my grandpa met Oobleck." Jaune said. "He may have been a successful Huntsman, but he was in Attika by the time Oobleck was in combat school."

"Actually, Mr. Arc, I think he did." Glynda said, chin in her hand.

"I can confirm that." Roman said.

"And how the hell would a crook like you know that?" Jaune said, turning to hear this.

"Well, String Bean, it just so happens I was on a team with ol' Barty back at Beacon. Your grandad was the Huntsman we shadowed on our first mission."

"Bullshit."

"My hand to God, kid. If I remember right, it was a Seek and Destroy mission up north of Vale. That man taught me more about survival than Beacon ever did."

" **Finest explorer I ever met." Came a voice from behind Jaune. He turned with a jump of fright and saw the man in the paintings sitting on the floor in a blue robe and his body contorted in a way Jaune didn't think was possible. He changed positions and offered his foot to Jaune to shake. "Bartholomew Oobleck. Pleasure to meet you, Jaune. Care to join me in a little yoga?" he asked as he began to crack and pop his back.**

" **Uh, no, no, thank you." he said, wiping his hand on his pants. "Did you really know my grandfather?"**

" **Ol' Johnathan? Indeed, we met back in Vale College. Class of '66. We stayed close friends until the end of his days." He grabbed his foot and twisted it, popping the joint with a sigh as he stretched his toes. "Even managed to drag me along on some of his danged fool expeditions. Arc was crazy as a fruit bat, no doubt. Spoke of you and your sisters often."**

" **Funny, he- he never mentioned you."**

" **Oh, of course not. He knew how much I like my privacy." He said this as he did a headstand and his robe fell up, giving Jaune a nauseating view of the nothing under it. "I like to keep a low profile."**

"This film is good with its humor." Blake chuckled.

"Cheesy and slapstick-y, but good." Ruby agreed. Weiss was trying her hardest to stop her face from breaking into a grin. She was better than humor meant for children.

" **Mr. Oobleck, should I be wondering why I'm here?"**

" **Look on that table." Oobleck grunted, pointing at the item in question. "It's for you."**

 **Jaune walked over to the table and saw a book-shaped package sitting on it, wrapped in manilla paper and twine. The under left corner had familiar writing on it.**

 _ **For Jaune**_

 _ **With Love, Johnathan Arc**_

" **It's- it's from my grandfather." Jaune said with confusion.**

"Time for the Macguffin." Blake said. Before Yang could ask, Blake said, "An object or event necessary to the plot, but ultimately insignificant."

"You could at least let me ask first." Yang pouted.

" **He brought that package to me years ago." Oobleck said, as he switched from static stretching to more dynamic Tai Chi-like exercises. "He said if anything happened to him, I should give it to you when you were ready. Whatever that means."**

 **Still frowning, Jaune opened the package. The second he did, all his apprehensions about Oobleck disappeared. It was a brown leather and metal bound book with a strange copper symbol in the center that resembled a lowercase 'a'.**

" **It can't be." He whispered. "It's the Shepard's Journal. Mr. Oobleck, this journal is the key to finding the lost continent of Atlantis."**

" **Ha! Atlantis." Oobleck laughed, moving behind a changing screen and taking off his robe. "I wasn't born yesterday, my boy."**

" **No, no, just look at this. Coordinates, clues, it's all right here."**

" **Yes, well, it looks like gibberish to me." Oobleck said.**

" **Well, that's because it's written in a dialect that no longer exists."**

" **So, it's useless."**

" **No, no, just difficult. I've spent my entire life studying dead languages. It's not gibberish to me."**

"My guess is that his grandfather followed the same clues he did, and also went to the museum." Blake said, "When they wouldn't fund him, he went to his rich friend."

" **Ah, it's probably a fake anyway." Oobleck said as he came back out dressed in a business suit and tie.**

 **Jaune closed the Journal and took a deep breath. Clearly this man did not understand his grandfather at all.**

" **Mr. Oobleck, my grandfather would have known if this were a fake.** _ **I**_ **would know. I will stake everything I own, everything I believe in that this is the genuine Shepard's Journal."**

" **All right, all right." Oobleck said diplomatically, leading Jaune to a long table next to the aquarium. "So, what do you want to do about it?"**

" **Well, I- I guess I'll go to the museum- "**

" **They'll never believe you."**

" **I'll show them. I will** _ **make**_ **them believe."**

" **Like you did today?"**

" **Yes! Well, no- how did you- Gah! Forget them! I will find Atlantis on my own, even if I have to rent a rowboat!"**

 **Oobleck steepled his hands and smiled wickedly. "Congratulations, Jaune. This is** _ **exactly**_ **what I wanted to hear. But forget the rowboat, my boy." He pressed a button on the edge of the table. "We'll travel in style." A whole host of figurines emerged from under the table. Trucks, a submarine, a zeppelin, and half a dozen different specialized vehicles. "It's all been arranged, the whole ball of wax."**

" **How?" Jaune asked, astounded.**

"Asking the real questions." Blake commented, leaning forward.

" **For years, your grandfather bent my ear with stories about that book." Oobleck said, walking over to the fireplace. "I didn't believe it for a minute. But then, I finally made a bet with the old coot. I said to him 'Arc, if you ever find that so-called journal, not only will I finance the expedition, I'll kiss you full on the mouth.' Imagine my surprise when he found the blasted thing." He handed Jaune a picture of Oobleck and Grandpa. Grandpa was holding the journal and both men were spitting away from each other. "Now, I know your grandfather's gone, Jaune, Brothers rest his soul, but Bartholomew Oobleck is a man who keeps his word. You hear that Arc?" he yelled pointing his cane at the picture of the two men shaking hands, "I'm going to the afterlife with a clear conscience, by thunder! Haha, ah, Johnathan." Oobleck grew quiet for a moment, his voice filled with sorrow. "Your grandpa was a great man. You probably don't know how great. Those buffoons at the museum dragged him down, made a laughingstock of him. He died a broken man. If I could bring back just one shred of proof, that'd be enough for me." He sighed again, and turned around, his chipper mood back in force.**

" **Well, what're we standing around for? We've got work to do."**

"Talk about a 180, eh, boss?" Neo signed.

Torchwick chuckled. "Barty was always good at giving you whiplash like that."

" **But, Mr. Oobleck, in order to do what you're proposing, you're gonna need a crew."**

" **Taken care of." Oobleck told him.**

" **You'll need engineers and- and geologists-"**

" **Got 'em all. The best of the best." He laid out a series of dossiers. "Neptune Vasilias, geology and excavations. Man has a nose for dirt. Nora Valkyrie, demolitions. Busted her out of a Mistralian prison. Ruby Rose. Don't let her age fool you, she's forgotten more about engines than you or I will ever know. They're the same crew that brought the journal back."**

" **Where was it?" Jaune asked confidently.**

" **Mantle." Oobleck told him, causing Jaune to cheer. "All we need now, is an expert in gibberish. So, it's decision time; you can either build on the foundation your grandfather left you, or you can go back to your boiler room."**

 **Jaune slumped into one of the chairs at the table. "This is really happening isn't it?"**

" **Now you're catching on." Oobleck smiled.**

"I like this version of Barty." Ozcar whispered to Glynda.

"The cattiness is certainly appealing." She smiled.

" **All right." he said, coming out of the immediate shock, "Alright, I'm gonna have to quit my job."**

" **It's done. You resigned this afternoon."**

" **I did?" Jaune asked, having never really filed his letter of resignation officially. It was really supposed to be nothing more than a scare tactic.**

" **Mhm. I'm not in the habit of leaving loose ends."**

" **Okay, I'll have to leave a notice for my apartment."**

" **Taken care of." Oobleck told him casually.**

" **My clothes?" Jaune was starting to notice a pattern.**

" **Packed."**

" **My books?"**

" **In storage."**

" **My dog?" Emma barked next to him, trying to climb into his lap. "My gods."**

"OH MY GOD! She is adorable!" Kali said, holding her cheeks.

"Man, they say the apple doesn't land far from the tree, but I guess you're the exception, eh Blakey?" Yang teased.

"Bite me." Blake pouted, and flicked Yang's nose.

" **Your Grandad had a saying." Oobleck said, his voice serious. "'Our lives are remembered by the gifts we leave our children.' This Journal is his gift to you, Jaune. Atlantis is waiting. What do you say?" he held out a long, olive green coat emblazoned with an 'A' on the shoulders.**

 **Jaune jumped out of his seat and grabbed the coat. "I'm your man, Mr. Oobleck." He said as he started to put the coat on. "Man, I am so excited I can't even hold it in." His excitement was obvious by how he had put the coat on backwards.**

 **A few days later, Jaune found himself vomiting over the side of a large transport ship off the coast of Vacuo.**

"Some things never change, do they, Vomit Boy?" Yang cackled.

"Actually, I'm pretty good on the ocean." Jaune said, with Ruby, Ren and Nora nodding in confirmation.

"Yeah, that's more Nep's territory." Sun ribbed his petrified teammate.

 **He had called his family as soon as he got home, finding his electricity now working. He had told them everything, and the responses were mixed. Saphron, Artoria and Seras were apprehensive about his going on an expedition at all, being their only brother. Lucy, Tanya, and Ilya had been excited for him and encouraged him to go. 'Do it for Grandpa!" they had said. Joan, of course was a balance of the two. She didn't want him to go, but knew that stopping him was next to impossible and if the roles were reversed for them, it would be much the same. In the end, she wished him luck and made him promise to come back alive.**

" **Ugh, carrots." Jaune groaned, collecting himself as best he could. "Why is there always carrots? I haven't had carrots in days."**

"Dammit, now I want carrot cake." Velvet grumbled.

"Um, babe?" Coco said, pointing to her menu. Velvet looked at it, saw the tantalizing slice of cake and practically jammed her finger through the tablet in her greed.

" _ **Attention, all hands to the launch bay."**_ **A familiar, yet also older voice said over the PA system.** _ **"To whoever took the 'L' from the Motor Pool sign, ha-ha, we are all very amused."**_

"Weak!" Yang mocked.

 **Jaune walked to the cargo bay to find it full of different vehicles, some of which were still being worked on, if the sparks coming from them were any indication. He walked up to a person who looked like they were in charge.**

" **Uh, excuse me?" he said hesitantly "I need to report in?"**

" **Yes, Mr. Arc?" Sienna said turning around to face Jaune, taking a small amount of delight in his surprise. She was dressed in a skin-tight long-sleeved black shirt under the same green coat as him, with thigh-length khaki pants and black combat boots.**

" **Aah! It's you!"**

" **Kitty, I got a bone to pick with you." a man said behind her. Standing in the back of a covered metal wagon, and looking nearly the opposite of what everyone knew of him, was Ozpin.**

"I gotta get a picture of this." Qrow grinned as he scrambled to pull out his scroll, while Ozcar facepalmed himself.

" **Hold that thought." Sienna sighed before turning to Ozpin. "What is it this time, Oz?"**

" **You done stuffed mah wagon full to bustin' with non-e-sentials." He complained, pulling up a box from within his wagon.**

"I can't even!" Qrow burst into laughter at Ozpin's voice, and almost fell out of his seat.

" **Look at all this. Cinnamon, oregano, ci-lantro. What in the cockadoodle is ci-lantro?" he threw the box back in the wagon and held up a large leafy green ball. "What is this?"**

" **That would be lettuce."**

" **Lettuce? Wha- Lettuce?"**

" **It's a vegetable, Oz. The men need the four basic food groups." Sienna said, taking the lettuce from him.**

" **I got yer four basic food groups: beans, bacon, whiskey and lard." A klaxon sounded within the bay.**

"So, the Branwen tribe diet, essentially?" Qrow said, still laughing.

" **Alright, cowboy, pack it up and move it out." Sienna said, shoving the lettuce into Ozpin's face.**

" _ **Attention: all hands to the launch bay. Final loading in progress."**_ **Glynda said over the loudspeakers.**

 **Jaune stepped onto an elevator filled with faunus men and women in military-style uniforms and gulped as the lift descended. At the bottom, he beheld the full-sized version of the submarine model Oobleck had shown him. It was easily as large as a football field, completely metallic, save for the orange glass ball at the front. The launch bay was full of activity as troops and vehicles began to file into the massive ship.**

"Did you notice that all those soldiers were-" Weiss whispered to Blake.

"Faunus? I did." Blake answered.

"You don't think…"

"No, couldn't be."

 **As he slowly moved through the bay, he was bumped from behind.**

" **Hey, junior, if you're looking for the pony rides, they're back there." a familiar orangette said casually, as she pushed a cart past him.**

 **Jaune noticed she had dropped something when she had run into him, and reached down to pick it up. "Excuse me, you dropped your dy- dynamite…" Jaune's voice died as he realized what he was holding. "Aha. What uh, what else have you got in there?" he asked as Nora wheeled her cart back to him.**

 **She took the dynamite back from him. "Oh, uh, gunpowder, nitroglycerin,** _ **notepads,**_ **fuses, wicks,** _ **glue,**_ **and, uh, paper clips. Big ones." She held her hands a foot apart to illustrate the message. "You know, just office supplies."**

"This is a role I was born to play." Nora said proudly.

"10/10, Best Actress." Pyrrha laughed.

"I am a little worried about you handling all those explosives though." Ren commented through his laughter.

"Well, we never any incidents back at Beacon, did we?" Nora said.

"Fair point." Ren said.

"Wait, what?" Weiss asked.

" **Jaune!" Oobleck called, walking up to him with another man next to him. He was a tall bull Faunus with red hair and a strip of cloth covering one of his light blue eyes. He wore a standard issue Vale Army dress uniform of black coat and pants, a white dress shirt and a black tie. "Where've you been? I wanted you to meet Commander Adam Taurus. He led the Mantle team that brought the Journal back."**

"Fuck." Weiss and Blake said together.

" **Jaune Arc." Adam said, shaking Jaune's hand. "Pleasure to meet the grandson of old Johnathan. See you've got that Journal with ya. Nice pictures, but I prefer a good western, myself."**

" **Pretty impressive, don't you think?" Oobleck said, elbowing Jaune.**

" **Man, when you settle a bet, you freaking settle a bet." Jaune agreed as they moved closer to one of the loading ramps.**

" **Well, your grandad always believed you can't put a price on the pursuit of knowledge."**

" **Well, believe me, this is gonna be small change compared to the value to what we're gonna learn on this trip."**

" **Yes, this should be enriching for all of us." Adam agree with a small smile.**

"Man, he's not even _trying_ to hide the fact that he's a merc." Jaune commented.

"I know, right? That grin says it all." Blake agreed.

" _ **Attention: all personnel. Launch will commence in 15 minutes."**_

" **Mr. Oobleck." Adam said, giving his employer a small salute before he stepped onto the ramp.**

" **Taurus." Oobleck returned the salute.**

" **Bye, Mr. Oobleck!" Jaune said, following after Adam.**

" **Make us proud, boy!" Oobleck yelled after him.**

" **Rig ship for dive!" the Diving officer called out, signaling that all hatches be sealed.**

" **Aye, sir! Rig ship for dive!" the Chief of the Watch confirmed.**

 **On the bridge, Adam gave the command to Sienna.**

" **Lieutenant, take her down."**

" **Diving officer, submerge the ship." Sienna ordered, "Make the depth 1-5-0 feet."**

 **Warning buzzers sounded in the launch bay as Oobleck watched the hooks holding the sub up release and allow it to sink. He gave it a thumbs up while hiding his crossed fingers behind his back. The ship sank quickly downwards, slowly titling away from the path of the ship that carried it. Lights came on as it slipped into the murky depths.**

* * *

 **Yes, I did pull the idea of Torchwick formerly being on a Huntsman team with Oobleck from Coeur Al'Aran's work because it's a damn good idea. It makes sense when you look at it. How else would he be able to tango with Beacon students on multiple occasions, when the thugs he hired from Junior got their asses kicked by Ruby in episode 1?**

 **Also, for those of you who don't read my Wolves of Remnant story, all of Jaune's sisters- except for Saphron- are named and modeled after anime characters.**

 **In order of age, we have:**

 **Artoria= Saber from Fate/Stay Night**

 **Seras= Seras Victoria from Hellsing/Hellsing Ultimate**

 **Joan= Ruler from Fate/Apochrypha**

 **Lucy= Lucy Heartfilia from Fairy Tail**

 **Tanya= Tanya von Degurechaff from Youjo Senki**

 **Ilya= Ilyasviel von Einsbern from Fate/Stay Night**

 **I know this violates the Color Naming Rule, but I wanted my version of the Arcs to be different. I'm not creative enough to come up with a bunch of different color-based names like everyone else, so I fall back on what I know, and I know a lot about many different series of anime. Or, at least enough to find six female characters with blonde hair and blue or green eyes.**


	63. Chapter 63- Atlantis, Part 3

**Sorry if last week's reactions weren't the best. I was coming down with something when I wrote them, so I wasn't exactly at the top of my game.**

 **MCU Counter: 1,293/2,000**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 63

 **Jaune entered his cabin as Glynda made an announcement over the intercom regarding the night's dinner. He thought nothing of it and decided to sleep off the bit of nausea that remained in his system. He tossed his rucksack onto the top bunk and leaned back in the bottom bunk. A set of goggles peaked down at him from the top bunk. With the shifting of dirt, a hand turned on a small lamp attached to the googles. In surprise, Jaune rammed his head into the bottom of the top bunk.**

" **You have disturbed the dirt." A voice growled above him.**

"No fucking way." Sun said, a grin growing on his face.

" **Uh, what?" Jaune replied.**

" **You have disturbed the dirt!" the voice said, jumping down from the bunk and throwing Jaune from his bunk. He was a short man with a messy mop of blue hair, a short beard and wearing a large over coat and boots. "Dirt from around the world, spanning the centuries! Look what you've done! Mistral must never merge with Atlas!"**

"OH MY FUCKING GOD!" Sun cried as he felt out of his chair, laughing.

"Is that me?" Neptune asked in horror.

"Looks like it, Water Boy." Coco teased.

"I don't like that name. Or this movie, all of a sudden." he whined

"Gee, I wonder why." Sun said, in between bouts of laughter.

" **What's it doing in my bed?" Jaune asked reasonably.**

" **You ask too many questions. Who are you?! Who sent you?! Speak up!"**

" **Ah, well, I'm-"**

" **Bah, I will know soon enough." He pulled out a pair of tweezers and grab Jaune's wrist. Jaune protested the rough treatment, but the man told him to suck it up. "Aha, there you are!" he said as he plucked a small granule of dirt from between Jaune's fingers. "Now, tell me your story my little friend." He zoomed his googles in to look at the dirt on a microscopic level. "Parchment fiber from the Nile, circa 500 BCE. Lead pencil, number 2. Paint flecks of a type used in government buildings. You have a dog, short-haired Chocolate Labrador, 5 years old, third in a litter of 7. These are all the microscopic fingerprints of the mapmaker." He tasted the dirt and his eyes narrowed. "And linguist."**

"He was able to figure out all of that from a speck of dirt?" Yang asked.

By now, Sun had calmed down enough to crawl back into his seat. "Hey, don't knock my boy here. Despite his lack of dance skills and fear of water- "

"I am not afraid of water." Neptune protested.

"- he really is a smart guy. Practically the entire team relies on him as a tutor."

" **Hey, how did you- "**

" **This is an outrage!" the man yelled, shoving Jaune's stuff into his arms and pushing him out the door. "You must leave at once! Out, out, out!" he was stopped by a wall of solid muscle. Jaune looked up and saw the tanned skin of a tall, platinum blonde man wearing nothing more than pants, shoes and a towel around his neck.**

"Yes! I'm back too!" Sun cheered.

" **Uh-oh. Sat in the dirt, didn't ya?" he said. He pushed past Jaune, showing Jaune the prehensile monkey tail sticking out the back of his pants. "Now, Neptune, what have I told you about playing nice with the other kids?" Neptune was about to respond when the Faunus cut him off. "Get back. I've got soap, and I'm not afraid to use it." He held up a literal bar of soap and Neptune hissed like an old movie vampire before turning to run away. The Faunus took the towel from his neck and whipped the man in the ass. "Back foul creature! Back to the pit from whence you came!" Neptune quickly scrambled up into his bunk and hid under the covers, turning on his lamp for good measure.**

" **The name's Sun. Sun Wukong. Medical officer." The man said, offering Jaune his hand.**

" **Uh, Jaune Arc."**

" **Jaune Arc?" Sun said as he pulled on a white lab coat, and only a white lab coat, leaving his abs on display, "You're my 3:00. Welp, no time like the present." He reached into his medical bag and pulled out a large saw.**

" **Oh boy." Jaune said, stuck somewhere between surprise and worry.**

" **Nice isn't it?" Sun asked, tapping on the blade, "The catalog says this baby can saw a femur in half in 28 seconds. I'm bettin' I can cut that time in half."**

"How does it take thirty seconds to saw through a femur?" Ruby asked. "I'm no medical expert, but that seems off."

"Maybe he meant long ways?" Weiss guessed.

"They are really underestimating the density of bone." Summer commented to Tai.

 **He put the saw away and took out a tongue depressor. "Now, stick out your tongue and say 'ah'."**

" **Oh, no, no, I gotta- " Jaune was cut off when Sun stuck the wooden stick in Jaune's mouth and pressed down on his tongue.**

" **So, where you from?" Sun asked as he began inspecting Jaune's mouth, moving cartoonishly fast. Jaune answered, but it came out as grunting. Sun shoved a thermometer in his mouth and put on a stethoscope. "Really? I have family up that way. Beautiful country. You do any fishing?" More grunting. "Me? I hate fishing. I hate fish. Hate the taste, hate the smell, hate all them little bones." He finished his check-up and pulled out a pair of large beakers. "I'm gonna need you to fill these up."**

 **Jaune spit out the thermometer. "With what?!" he practically yelled.**

" _ **Will Jaune Arc please report to the bridge?"**_ **Goodwitch's voice said over the intercom, saving Jaune.**

" **There is a god and he is good." Jaune muttered to himself. "Nice meeting you." he told Sun before running out of the cabin at top speed.**

" **Yup, nice meeting you too." Sun said with a smile.**

"I _like_ this version of me." Sun commented.

"Even if he does have the incorrect opinion regarding fish." Blake added.

"Though I do wonder if Nora shouldn't have had that role." Jaune joked.

 **On the bridge, Glynda was sitting at the radio station, talking into a headset. But, this was not the Goodwitch we know. This was Glynda in her 80s, at best. Her skin was sagging, her hair was pure grey and her entire face just screamed 'I'm too old for this shit.'**

" **So, I says to him, 'What's wrong with my meatloaf?' And Jimmy says to me-" a light began flashing on her radio. "Hang on a sec Willow, I got another call. Sir, we're approaching coordinates." She yelled to Adam before turning back to her conversation.**

 **Jaune stepped onto the bridge, which took up the entirety of the glass ball at the front of the ship. The necessary equipment was kept on the ground level, with several layers of catwalks ringing the sphere, which was designed to remain level as the ship moved, whether it sank or rose.**

" **Alright, let's have a look around." Adam said as Jaune walked up.**

" **Aye, sir." Sienna replied, turning to give orders to the crew. "Set course to 2-4-0. 15 degrees down angle on the bow planes."**

"They're treating this like it's a military operation." Weiss observed.

"If it's what they know, it's the best way to go about things." Winter said. "Most of these men and women look to have some kind of military background anyway."

"Can you translate what they're saying?"

"Only that 2-4-0 means roughly West-Southwest in military terms. I'm fluent with commanding infantry, not submersibles."

" **Welcome to the bridge, Mr. Arc." Adam said as Jaune climbed onto the command deck. On the deck with him, were Sun and Neptune, along with the girl with the explosives he ran into earlier, and a younger, possibly teenage girl with red-tipped black hair in overalls and a baggy long-sleeve white shirt. "Ok, everybody, I want you to give Mr. Arc your undivided attention."**

" **Good afternoon. Can everybody hear me alright?" Jaune asked nervously. The teenage girl blew a bubble in her gum and let it pop to signify her boredom. "Take that a yes, I guess. Um, how about some slides, first? The first slide is a depiction of a creature so horrifying, sailors were said to be driven mad by the mere sight of it." he put the slide into the projector and was greeted by hoots and catcalls. He turned and saw a picture of him from his sister Artoria's bachelorette party, when they made him serve drinks in a 'sexy bunny' outfit. "Dammit, Tanya." He muttered to himself as he searched for the right slide.**

"Oh, fuck me. Not those pictures, anything but that." Jaune groaned as he sank into his seat.

"Wait, that's real?!" Nora yelled.

"No!" Jaune said quickly.

"Hot." Coco said, Velvet giggling in agreement.

"Oh, and I thought Vomit Boy was something you would never live down." Yang laughed.

"Nooo…"

" **Geez, I used to take lunch money from guys like this." Ruby scoffed, making Nora chuckle beside her.**

" **Ok, yeah, so this is an illustration of the Leviathan; the creature guarding the entrance to Atlantis." Jaune put a new slide into the projector, showing a depiction of a monstrous lobster-like creature attacking a ship.**

" **With something like that, I would have white wine, I think." Nora commented.**

" **It's a mythical sea serpent." Jaune explained. "He's described in the Book of Job. The bible says 'Out of his mouth go burning lights, sparks of fire shoot out.' But more likely, it's a carving or a sculpture to frighten the superstitious."**

" **So, we find this masterpiece. Then what?" Adam asked.**

" **When do we dig?!" Neptune interrupted excitedly.**

" **Actually, we don't have to dig." Jaune said, turning off the projector. "See, according to the Journal, the path to Atlantis will take us down a tunnel at the bottom of the ocean, and we'll come up a curve into an air pocket, where we'll find the remnants of an ancient highway that will take us straight to Atlantis. Kind of like the grease trap in your sink."**

" **Cartographer, linguist, plumber. Hard to believe he's still single." Sienna said as she played with a knife.**

" **You said there would be digging," Neptune said as he pull on a corner of Sienna's shirt.**

" **Go away, Mole."**

"Wait, is that my nickname in this?" Neptune asked.

"Would you rather it be Aqua?" Sun teased, earning a punch from Neptune.

" **Captain?" the helmsman said, "You'd better come look at this."**

" **Alright, class dismissed." Adam said. "Give me exterior lights."**

 **The lights came on underneath the bridge and lit up the ocean floor to reveal what can only be described as a ship graveyard.**

" **Look at that." Sienna said, amazed.**

" **There are ships here from every era." Jaune said.**

 **As the ship continued through, the ground shifted behind them. As they passed over a series of stone pillars, a massive shadow could just barely be seen passing between the pillars, all the while accompanied by an eerie clacking.**

"Welp, there's that Leviathan thingy." Ruby said.

"It's huge." Yang said.

"And kinda looks familiar." Weiss observed. "I think we saw one of those at the start of the movie."

"And that sound is just creepy as all get out too." Sun added.

"Hmm. Another idea to add to my list of experiments." Salem commented as she drank her wine.

 **Glynda extinguished her cigarette before flipping another switch. She frowned at what she heard, and made a few adjustments.**

" **Commander, I think you should hear this." She said. However, Adam was busy consulting with Jaune, who was reading a passage from the Journal.**

" _ **Predeshtem, logtunug… nah geb."**_ **He said in what can only be assumed was Atlantean. "'Enter the lair of the Leviathan. There you will find the path to the gateway.'"**

" **What is it, Mrs. Goodwitch?" Adam asked, said lady having been trying to get his attention the entire time.**

" **I'm picking up something on the hydrophone I think you should hear." She reported.**

" **Put it on speakers."**

 **Glynda flipped a switch and the entire bridge was filled with the sounds of groaning and wooshing as the massive being outside shadowed the ship.**

"Well, they can't be too surprised when it attacks the ship." Blake commented.

"Blake! Spoilers!" Ruby yelled.

"Oh, come on, we all know it's coming."

" **What is it?" Adam asked, him and Sienna coming down to her station, "A pod of whales?"**

" **Uh-uh. Bigger." Glynda said.**

" **Sounds metallic." Sienna commented before she started turning dials, "Could be an echo off one of the wrecks."**

" **You wanna do my job? Be my guest." Glynda snarked.**

" **Is it just me or is that getting louder?" Jaune asked, and abruptly, the sound ceased.**

 **Sienna's eyes narrowed. "Well, whatever it was, it's gone now."**

 **Adam nodded his agreement. "Helmsman, bring us about. Tighten our search pattern and slow us to-"**

 **Suddenly everyone and everything on the ship was thrown with a crash as the ship began spinning in the water. Outside, a massive lobster-like beast circled them and grabbed them in one of it's massive claws. It was easily ten times the size of the sub, and looked like a smaller lobster had been jammed up to it's midsection into the body of a far larger lobster.**

"How are they supposed to fight that?" Ruby said.

"You don't, Red." Torchwick said. "At least, not without a really fucking big stick."

"Preferably a Jaeger-sized one." Jaune agreed.

 **Ruby ran through the hallways, easily adjusting for the tilted nature of the ship, quickly making her way to the engine room. She stepped onto the catwalk and saw the room quickly filling with water.**

 **On the bridge, Adam and Sienna had managed to collect themselves.**

" **Tell Oz to melt the butter and break out the bibs!" He told Sienna. "I want this lobster served up on a silver platter."**

" **Load the torpedo bays!" Sienna yelled out to the crew. "Subpod crews, battle stations!"**

 **Dozens of pairs of men and women, including Nora and Neptune, all climbed into small, bullet shaped submersibles, Adam giving them instructions and steadying words over radio as they did.**

 **The beast grabbed them once again, holding them in place. Jaune was thrown from the bridge by the impact and landed on the glass exterior. He picked himself up and looked out to see a massive orange eye staring back at him.**

" **Good, God! It's a machine!" he cried when the massive eye narrowed at him like it was actually mechanical.**

 **Below, Ruby was doing her best to maximize damage control by sealing of any doors that water could potentially come from, even if it meant leaving men and women behind.**

" **Launch subpods!" Adam ordered. Along the length of the ship, the tiny bullets were thrown into the ocean.**

"Oh, what are those tiny things gonna do to that?" Torchwick said sardonically.

 **They quickly circled around and formed into squadrons of five pods before launching a volley of torpedoes at the beast. Explosions erupted across the back of the Leviathan and it instinctively released the sub. "We're free. All ahead full." As the Leviathan turned to face the subpods, the sub quickly made it's escape.**

"So, boss, how's your foot tasting about now?" Neo signed. Torchwick took a half-hearted swipe at her, which she ducked and stuck her tongue out at him.

 **However, the subpods were not faring well. They circled back around to the front of the sub, leading it into a trap for the sub's more powerful torpedoes, but not without sustaining their own casualties. Once they had the shot, the torpedoes were launched, all of them impacting on the smaller body of the Leviathan. The subpods used the smoke to escape, but the Leviathan pushed through and fired some kind of electrical laser beam at the sub, just barely impacting on its starboard side and cutting through the steel plates like a hot knife through butter.**

"Now, that's just fucking cheating." Mercury commented, going for more popcorn.

 **As Ruby was finishing up with the doors, she felt the impact of the blast. Behind her, she heard the bolts on the boilers next to her shooting out of place. Cursing, she grabbed a shovel near her and used it as a shield for her face as she ran down the hallway and up a ladder.**

" **Get me the bridge." She ordered as her crew began sealing things up.**

" **Sir, it's engineering on 4." Glynda told Adam as she began leafing through a newspaper.**

"This Glynda is so nonplussed by anything. I love it." Summer chuckled.

" **Adam!" Ruby yelled into the mic, making Adam wince, "We took a big hit down here, and we're taking on water fast. I don't wanna be around when it hits the boilers."**

" **How long?" he asked her.**

" **Twenty minutes, if the bulkhead holds." She heard a loud clang behind her. "Scratch that, five."**

" **You heard the lady, let's move!" Adam ordered.**

" **Move? Move where?" Jaune asked as sailor grabbed his shoulder and led him out the bridge.**

" **Goodwitch, sound the alarm!" Sienna ordered.**

" **He packed his suitcase?" Glynda asked her friend on the radio, "Willow, honey, I don't think he's coming back."**

" **GOODWITCH!" Sienna shouted.**

"Yeesh, calm your tits, me." Sienna joked.

"The ship is currently being destroyed by a previously-thought-mythical sea monster." Winter argued.

"Mortal danger is still not an excuse to be a bitch."

" **I have to call you back. No, no, I'll call you." Glynda said, extinguishing her cigarette on the table.**

" _ **All hands, abandon ship."**_ **Glynda said over the intercom as Jaune followed Ruby down a hallway and onto a catwalk, soon joined by Sun. Sienna ushered them all into an escape ship before she jumped in herself. The inside of the craft was enormous, capable of carrying at least 25 individuals, and a host of vehicles, including the massive digging machine Jaune had seen earlier.**

" **Grab a seat and buckle in." she ordered, climbing into the seat next to Adam.**

" **Get us out of here, Lieutenant." He told her.**

 **Outside, the ship began to slowly began sinking, catching the Leviathan's attention.**

" **Lieutenant!" Adam yelled.**

" **I am working on it!" Sienna yelled back as she put her full weight behind the release lever and pushed as hard as she could. The Leviathan shot another beam through the middle of the ship. Sienna finally wound up kicking the release lever, pushing it forward. "Hang on." She said as the craft sped forward. The sub's rear hatch burst open and a series of matching escape ships sped out and away, though one was not fast enough and was caught in the sub's explosion.**

 **The escape craft quickly made for the ocean floor, subpods flanking them as an escort, while the Leviathan emerged from the wake of the sub's destruction and swam after them.**

" **Where to, Mr. Arc?" Adam asked. Jaune opened the Journal and began reading.**

" **We're looking for a crevice of some kind." He said, going off the illustrations rather than words from the stress.**

" **There!" Adam said, pointing to a break in the sea floor about half a mile ahead of them.**

 **Sienna changed course and got on the radio. "All craft, make your mark 20 degrees down angle."**

" **Roger! 20 degrees down angle!" a stressed soldier confirmed.**

" **Right behind you." Neptune told them.**

 **The Leviathan appeared behind them and slammed it's claw down, taking another subpod and escape craft as it did.**

" **Too close!" Neptune exclaimed, breaking sharply to avoid being taken as well.**

" **We're getting killed out here!"**

 **The craft dived into the crevice, numbering only five in total. The Leviathan tried to follow, but was too large to fit. It settled on firing another blast and destroying another subpod. Another dodged the beam, but rammed into one of the escape ships and was dashed against the cave wall. The craft they hit lost control and crashed into the ceiling.**

" **It's only a grease trap. It's just like a sink." Jaune said to himself, willing himself to not lose it. "It's only a grease trap. It's just liKE A SINK!"**

 **The remaining subpod and escape ship dodged each other and the beams from the Leviathan as they rounded a bend and came into a vertical climb. Sienna wrestled with the controls as the tunnel became increasingly narrower and things got more complicated. Soon enough, they breached the surface of the water into a dark cavern. Nora and Neptune opened up their hatch to take a look around, while Sienna turned on a flood light on top of her craft. The shore revealed just what Jaune had said: the ruins of an ancient stairway leading up to a strange fish-like head, into whose gaping maw the path led.**

"Well, that was exciting." Ozcar said plainly.

Xx

 **Yeah, I know I kinda dropped the ball at the end there, but it didn't feel like there were many good places to add reactions once the chase sequence got started. That entire scene with the Leviathan is only about 3-5 minutes and it's pretty fast paced anyway.**

 **Anywho, I'm gonna start trying a new way of writing these chapters so that I'm not scrambling to get these out week to week. Hopefully, it'll work out the way I want so that I can write these and write more for Wolves of Remnant.**

 **Be Sure to Follow, Favorite, and leave a Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 3/3/20 (California Presidential Primary Day)**


	64. Chapter 64- Atlantis, Part 4

**Alright, before we kick things off here, we need to talk. Guys, I understand that you have ideas or movies that you want me to do, and I respect that. However, spamming me guest reviews about them is not going to get you anywhere. The only thing you are doing with that tactic is mildly irritating me by filling up my inbox with alerts that I will simply trash anyway. If you really, really want to give me a suggestion I will take seriously, just log in and do it. At least that way you will have my attention.**

 **Also, keep in mind that I have not seen ever movie ever made since I was born. Movies that you love, I may have never seen at all because they simply didn't interest me.**

 **MCU Counter: 1,319/2,000. Progress is slow, but steady.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 64

"So, Weiss, you still think this _animated movie_ is for kids?" Yang asked.

"That last scene was more intense than I was expecting, I'll admit." Weiss said. "I think I'm starting to like it, if I'm being honest."

 **A few hours later, the remaining crew had unloaded from the escape craft along with what vehicles they had along with them. Thankfully, Adam had chosen the craft with the most critical vehicles. They were gathered around the large underground lake and stood in solemn silence as Sun placed a candle in an unused helmet and set it adrift into the water.**

 **Adam took a deep breath before he spoke, loss heavy in his voice.**

" **Seven hours ago, we started this expedition with 200 of the finest men and women I've ever known. We're all that's left." He turned to face them. "I won't sugarcoat it; we have a crisis on our hands. But, we've been up this particular creek before, and we've always come through, paddle or no paddle." Sun saw Ruby looking down, and put a hand on her shoulder, silently letting her know he was there for her, and he laid her hand on his. "I see no reason to change that policy now. From here on in, everybody pulls double duty. Everyone drives, everyone works." He climbed a few steps and turned back to Jaune, as did everyone else. "Looks like all our chances for survival rest with you, Mr. Arc. You and that little book."**

" **We're all gonna die." Glynda commented.**

" **Alright, people, saddle up. Lieutenant, I want this convoy moving 5 minutes ago."**

"What does that even mean?" Ruby asked, "I've heard that saying in movies and TV, but I have never understood what it is supposed to mean."

Winter kept her mouth shut, not wanting to reveal the fact she didn't understand the phrase either. Neither do I, to be honest.

 **Engines roared to life as Sienna began yelling out orders. "Mole, you've got point. Nora, you know the rules. Ruby is driving the Oiler, I want you 50 yards behind that truck at all times."**

 **Adam watched Neptune climb into his digger, and turned when he heard the honking of a horn. He saw the source was Jaune, who was idly playing with the horn on one of the trucks. Adam quickly walked up to it, grabbed the horn and tore it off.**

" **Are you sure you're checked out for this class of vehicle?" He asked Jaune.**

" **Huh?"**

" **Can you drive a truck?" he said plainly.**

"My dad taught me how to drive a stick shift when I was fifteen." Jaune answered. "It's not as tough as most people think. It's all about coordinating your movements."

" **Pfft! Of course I can drive a truck." Jaune scoffed as he climbed into the driver's seat. "See, it's all very simple. You got your gas, your brake, steering, and this, metal, uh, looking thing." Adam gave him a deadpan stare. "Okay, okay, it was a bumper car at Coney Island, but it's the same basic principle."**

 **Minutes later, Jaune sat in the seat of his truck, sadly toying with the wheel as Neptune's digger pulled him along.**

"Clearly, it is not the same." Pyrrha joked.

 **The road was long and winding, and Jaune eventually began simply riding with Adam and Sienna, reading the Journal to determine their route. At one point, they had to use a crane to lower the cars down to the next portion of road when it was reveal that the road had been broken due to tectonic movement. Another time, they came to a fork in the road that led into either eye of a massive stone skull. Jaune had told them to go left, but was quickly proven wrong when a giant insect nearly attacked them. Upon further inspection, he realized he had been reading the Journal upside down. The crew had not been kind to him for the next few days.**

 **During a rest break a few days later, Nora walked up behind Jaune as he finished drinking from a canteen.**

" **You didn't just drink that, did you?" she asked, and Jaune nodded. "That's not good. That was nitroglycerin." Jaune immediately froze up, and slowly tried to put the canteen back where he found it. "Don't move, don't breath, don't do anything except pray, maybe- "**

" **BOOM!" Neptune yelled behind Jaune, making him jump and scream in fright.**

"Oh, come on." Jaune complained.

"What, you upset over a little tag teaming?" Neptune asked.

"No, it's just that Nora has never needed help with her pranks."

"I pride myself in being a one-woman mayhem machine." She said proudly.

 **It was only when Nora and Neptune walked away laughing that Jaune realized he'd been had. It was typical for the trip. He'd been on the outs with basically everybody since day one. He kept his own camp, ate meals alone, all the while pouring over the Journal and his notes to keep him busy.**

 **After about two weeks of travel, the expedition's path was once again blocked. This time by a massive pillar and a gorge they didn't have the tools to cross.**

" **Good night! Would you look at the size of this!" Jaune said, admiring the pillar Nora was placing explosives around. "It must be half a mile high, at least. It must have taken hundreds, no** _ **thousands**_ **of years to carve this." Nora quickly pulled Jaune to safe distance before depressing a plunger. Nora smiled as the explosion had the intended effect of toppling the pillar across the gorge.**

" **Hey, look, I made a bridge." She said, admiring her work, "And it only took me, like, what? Ten seconds. Eleven, tops."**

"See, that's more like it." Jaune smiled.

"Sun, you can have the doctor's job. I like mine better." Nora grinned.

"Deal." Sun agreed. "Though, admittedly, yours does look like more fun…"

 **A few days of biting cold temperatures later, the convoy stopped again.**

" **Looks like we got a little roadblock." Adam said, staring up at the massive stone wall blocking their path. "Nora, what do you think?"**

" **I could un-roadblock that if I had about two hundred of these." She held up a stick of dynamite. "Problem is I got about… 10. Plus, like, five of my own, and some cherry bombs, a road flare. Hey, too bad we don't have any nitroglycerin, eh, Jaune?"**

 **Neptune erupted into hysterical laughter, hanging out of the cockpit of his digger.**

"In theory, that would work," Nora said, her chin in her hand, "But it's also likely to take the entire road with it in the blast wave."

" **Looks like we're gonna have to dig." Adam said.**

 **Neptune gasped excitedly. "It would be my pleasure."**

 **After everyone had cleared the way, Neptune turned on his drill and began to tear into the wall. He made it about five feet before the controls began to spark and the engine backfired. He cursed at his machine and coughed as he choked on smoke and dust filtering into the cabin.**

" **I don't understand." Ruby frowned, opening up the engine hatch. She climbed in and began to root around. "I just tuned this thing up this morning."**

" **Um, could I- " Jaune said before she cut him off.**

" **It looks like the rotor's shot." She said, pulling herself out of the engine. "I'm gonna have to pull a spare from one of the trucks."**

" **Can I-"**

" **Don't touch anything." She told him with fire in her eyes. "I'll be right back."**

 **However, Jaune could actually see the problem. Seeing an opportunity, he reached into the engine, twisted a few valves and gave the boiler a solid whack with a wrench, just like he did at the museum. Smoke poured from the exhaust as the beast roared to life.**

" **She lives!" Neptune cried happily.**

" **Hey, what'd you do?" Ruby asked.**

"Please don't be lame, please don't be lame, please don't be lame." Jaune pleaded to himself.

" **Oh," Jaune tried his best to look cool for a teenage girl, "Well, you know, the boiler on this thing is a Humac Model P54/813, and we got the 814 back at the museum. The heating cores on the whole Humac line have always been a little bit temperamental, so sometimes you just need to, boom, persuade them a little."**

"Aaaand, fail." Jaune hung his head.

"Hey, I thought you sounded alright." Ruby protested.

"Ruby, he pulled up his pants and acted like a Chad." Yang said.

"You're not helping." Ruby hissed.

" **Yeah, yeah, thank you very much. Shut up." Ruby said as she closed the hatch. She wound up to take a swing at him, and he braced himself for the blow. "Two for flinching." She said, giving him what accounted for a pair of love taps to anyone else. Jaune however, turned away and furiously rubbed his arm as the digger continued it's progress, with the convoy following close behind.**

"Okay, I deserved that."

 **Later that day, the group found themselves before another gorge, this time with an intact stone bridge spanning the distance and a strange green-glowing rock formation above them.**

" **This is it." Jaune said, double-checking an illustration in the Journal that seemed to match. "It's gotta be."**

" **Alright, we'll make camp here." Adam decided.**

" **Why is it glowing?" Ruby asked.**

" **Don't worry, it's just a natural phosphorescence." Neptune said.**

" **That thing is gonna keep me up all night. I know it." Nora said.**

"Hey, nothing wrong with a natural night light." Ruby said.

"Gotta agree there." Jaune nodded. The moon had been a huge help on the nights RNJR had to camp out on the road to Mistral. It amazed him how something that seemed so childish a few years ago seemed so practical now that he had been in the real world.

 **Later that evening, camps had been made and the light from the rock was significantly lessened.**

" **Come and get it!" Ozpin called out, ringing a triangle. He went around to the campfires, pushing a cart of… something, and ladling it out to everyone. "For the appetizer, Caesar salad, escargot, and the oriental spring rolls."**

"That looks nothing like any of the things he just said." Weiss said, her face turning green.

"I am suddenly very appreciative of how much money you put into the cafeteria staff budget." Glynda told Ozcar.

"As are all the students, I'm sure."

" **I wanted the escargot." Neptune whined, looking at Ruby's dish.**

" **Trade ya." She said, offering her dish in exchange for his much less greasy-looking tray of slop.**

" **There ya go, Jauney boy." Oz said as he came to Jaune's camp and handed the blonde a tray. "Put some meat on them bones."**

" **Thanks Oz. That looks… greasier than usual." He grimace-smiled.**

" **You like it? Well have some more." He took the pot and dumped more of the "meal" on Jaune's tray. "Yer so skinny, if ya turned sideways and stuck out yer tongue you'd look like a zipper."**

"Heh. The old man used to say that about me." Qrow commented.

"Wait, I thought you and Raven never knew your parents." Summer said.

"I meant Avius, the Branwen chief we were raised under."

"Riiiight, him. Sounds like a dick."

" **You know, we've been pretty tough on the kid." Sun said, "What do you say we cut him a little slack?"**

" **Ya, you're right, I guess." Ruby said, turning to Jaune. "Hey, Jaune! Come sit with us."**

" **Really? You don't mind?" he asked, getting up from his seat, tray in one hand and Journal in the other.**

" **Nah, park it here." Ruby indicated an empty seat between her and Sun.**

"There needs to be more people like this in the world." Ruby commented.

" **Thanks. I'm glad to be included-" as he sat down a loud farting noise came from behind him. red-faced, he looked down and saw a deflated whoopie cushion and one Neptune cackling on the ground.**

" **Mole!" Sun, Ruby and Nora yelled while Glynda just rolled her eyes at the boy's antics.**

"And guys like that need to have many bad things done to them."

"That joke was bad and he should feel bad." Neptune commented, frowning at his other self.

" **What? He needed to be initiated somehow!" Neptune grinned.**

" **Don't worry about it." Jaune said, tossing the prank to the blue-haired man. "My sisters put me through a lot worse. Tanya most of all." He opened up the Journal and began re-reading a passage as he ate.**

" **Hey, Jaune, don't you ever close that book?" Ruby asked.**

" **Yeah, you must've read it a dozen times by now." Sun grimaced as he pulled a fish bone from his slop.**

" **I know, but this- there's this thing here that doesn't make sense." He pointed at the passage he was reading with the clean end of his spoon, "See, in this passage here, the Shepard refers to something he calls 'the Heart of Atlantis.' It could be the power source the legends refer to, but then you turn the page and it cuts off. It's like there's a missing page."**

"So, this guy sees the phrase 'Heart of Atlantis' and no warning flags go up?" Emerald said, "I can't tell if he's ignorant or equally as arrogant."

"Even I understand how hinky that sounds, which is saying something." Mercury agreed.

"Careful, it's learning." Neo signed to Roman.

" **Kid, relax. We don't get paid overtime." Nora told him.**

" **I know, I know. Sometimes I get a little carried away." Jaune admitted, putting his tray on the ground. "But, hey, that's what all this is about, right? Discovery, teamwork, adventure? Unless… you all are just in it for the money?"**

" **Money." Said Sun.**

" **Money." Ruby agreed.**

" **Money." Neptune confirmed.**

" **Money." Glynda said, taking a drag from her cigarette.**

" **I'm gonna say 'money.'" Nora answered.**

"At least their honest about it." Jaune sighed.

 **Jaune sighed and started rubbing his neck. "Well, I guess I set myself up for that one."**

" **Something wrong with your neck?" Sun asked, eyebrow quirked.**

" **Oh, yeah." Jaune said. Sun stood up and walked up behind Jaune. "I must have tweaked it when- ah!- AH!" he yelled when Sun cupped one of his cheeks, placed a fist against the other and twisted his head left, then quickly back to the right.**

" **Better?" Sun asked as he took his seat.**

 **Jaune cracked his neck with a grunt. "Ah, yeah. Where'd you learned to do that?"**

" **An Arapaho medicine man." He said simply.**

" **Get outta here." Jaune said in disbelief. The Arapaho were one of the most well-known warrior cultures in all of Menagerie, best known for their ability to survive in the island's harsh eastern deserts.**

" **Born and raised with 'em." Sun said pulling a picture from one of his chest pockets. It showed a man with brown hair holding hands with a fair-skinned woman both of whom had monkey tails wrapped around their waists. "My father was a medic in the Vacuo Army. He settled down in the Kuo Kuana territory after he met my mother."**

"The only thing accurate about this is that those are my actual parents; Bardock and Gine."

" **No kidding."**

" **Nope." He unbuttoned some of his shirt and pulled out a necklace with several trinkets on it. "I got a sheep skin from Howard U, and a bear skin from Old Iron Cloud. Halfway through medical school I was drafted. One minute, I'm studying gross anatomy in the class room. The next, I'm being given a crash course on field dressing bullet wounds in the middle of an active battlefield."**

" **Main course!" Oz said, pulling up next to the camp. He was met with varying polite refusals for seconds. "Oh, don't you worry. It'll keep, and keep, and keep."**

" **Thank God I lost my sense of taste years ago." Glynda said as the five people each took their trays and dumped them on the fire, putting it out with a small nuclear fireball.**

 **A few minutes later, Nora was walking by as Jaune was putting up his tent.**

" **Uh, aren't you going to pitch your tent?" She asked.**

 **Jaune blinked at her owlishly. "I did." He pointed at his work. Calling it a tent was a gross exaggeration. Even I with my vast command of the English language cannot find the proper verbiage to adequately describe the utter shit catastrophe that was this man's tent area. Thankfully, Nora shoved her bedroll into Jaune's arms and set about fixing it.**

"I am ashamed that my other self would dare call that abomination a tent." Jaune said.

"Melodramatic much?" Yang teased.

"You joke now, Yang, but Jaune takes this stuff very seriously." Ruby told her.

"Yeah, he would inspect out tents to make sure we had pitched them properly." Nora added. "Practically the definition of OCD."

" **I guess I'm still a little rusty at this." Jaune said sheepishly, "I haven't gone camping since… well, since the last time Grandpa took us."**

" **I never met your grandfather. What was he like?" Ruby asked.**

" **Where to even start?" Jaune said as he rolled out his sleeping bag. "He was more like a father to us- me and my sisters. Our parents died when I was a little kid, and he took us in." he laughed as he remembered something.**

" **What?"**

" **Well, I was just thinking. There was this one time where the two of us were walking by a stream, and I saw something shining in the water. It was a genuine arrowhead. Well, you'd think I had found a lost civilization the way grandpa went on about it. It wasn't until I was older that I realized that the arrowhead was just some compressed shale mixed with zinc pyrite that had fractured into an isosceletic triangulate."**

"TL;DR: I found a shiny rock." Jaune joked.

" **That is so cute!" Neptune chuckled as he walked by, wearing full pajamas and holding a Pumpkin Pete's plushie.**

" **Say, Ruby, no offense here," Jaune said, holding his hands up apologetically, "But how does a teenager become the chief mechanic for a multi-million lien expedition?"**

" **Well, you see, I took this job when my dad retired." Ruby told him as she took off her boots, "But the funny thing is, he always wanted sons, right? One to run his machine shop, and the other to be middleweight boxing champion. But he got me and my half-sister, Yang, instead."**

 **That explained one thing at least. "So, what about your sister?"**

" **24-0, with a shot at the title next month." She said proudly. "As for me, I'm saving up for me and the old man can open another shop."**

"Oh yeah!" Yang cheered, flexing her arms.

"Sometimes I wonder if Yang shouldn't have become a professional fighter instead." Tai told Summer.

"Hah. Can you imagine her as a pro wrestler? She would be a champion in no time flat." She agreed.

"If the writers are smart, at least." Qrow added.

" **Forget your jammies Mrs. Goodwitch?" Jaune asked as the woman in question walked by wearing one of the expedition's coats, fluffy pink slippers, her hair in rollers and a face mask.**

" **I sleep in the nude." She replied.**

" **You're gonna want these." Sun said, tossing him a blindfold, "She sleep-walks."**

"No one… say… anything." Glynda said, her Aura of Intimidation in full effect. Not even Mercury was stupid or suicidal enough to try anything.

" **Well, as far as me goes," Nora said, getting comfortable on her bedroll, eyes covered and matchstick behind her ear, "I just like to blow things up."**

 **Sun walked over and pulled the covers up. "Come on, Nora. Tell the kid the truth." He told her.**

 **She glared at Sun before sighing. "My step-family owned a flower shop. We would sell roses, carnations, baby's breath, you name it. One day, I'm making about three dozen corsages form this prom. You know, the ones they put on their wrists? And everybody, they come** _ **, 'Where is it? When is it? Does it match my dress?'**_ **It's a freaking nightmare." She covered her face dramatically. "Anyway, I guess there was this leak next door, gas or whatever- BOOM! No more Mistrali laundry. Blew me right through the front window." She took the match and lit it with her thumb. "It was like a sign from God! I found myself that boom."**

"That was… surprisingly heart-warming." Weiss commented.

"I may still be an orphan, but at least I found a forever home." Nora added. Ren took her hand and she leaned against his shoulder.

 **Not far away, they heard grunting as Neptune literally dug himself a hole and laid in it to sleep.**

" **What's Neptune's story?" Jaune asked with a grimace, not sure if he really wanted to know.**

" **Trust me on this one, you don't wanna know." Sun said. "Ruby, don't tell him. You shouldn't have told me, but you did, and now I'm telling you, you don't wanna know." To end the conversation, he blew out the lamp, bathing the camp in darkness.**

* * *

 **Fun fact about Mole: What Sun didn't want Jaune to know was that Mole (and thusly, Neptune) apparently spent most of his youth exploring the sewer systems of Paris, which developed his fascination for the earth as well as his little headgear. Not all that bad considering what he could have been doing on the streets of the early 20th century.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite, and leave a Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 3/10/20**


	65. Chapter 65- Atlantis, Part 5

**I had such a hard time coming up with dialogue for this chapter. Please forgive me.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 65

 **As the camp slept through the night -though how they tell night from day in a subterranean cavern is beyond my comprehension- a group of warriors silently snuck into their camp. They had been following the expedition for some time now, especially after they had used their fire to collapse the Great Pillar and span the Chasm. Each warrior was garbed strangely, with the majority of their bodies covered by white hair stemming from the massive masks they wore, whose eyes and mouths emitted a faint blue glow.**

 **Their presumed leader approached Jaune's tent and quickly began rooting through his rucksack, jumping at the slightest change in the noises of the camp. They pulled out several items and tossed them aside until they found the picture of Jaune, his sisters and their grandfather. They took a moment to admire the happiness displayed in the photo before quickly putting it back and dashing off as Jaune yawned and emerged from his tent, a small shovel and a roll of toilet paper in one hand and a flashlight in the other.**

"Okay, good, I at least know that." Jaune said in exasperation.

"What am I missing?" Weiss asked, though she felt she might not want to know.

"While camping, bathrooms are not exactly available." Jaune started to explain, "So when you need to do your business, you just bury it. Out of sight, out of mind."

"Out of scent range." Ruby added.

 **Remembering his grandfather's teachings about camping etiquette, he quietly made his way to the edge of camp and walked past it. He dug himself a small hole, before he began taking his pants off, the beam of his flashlight briefly shining on the glowing rock on the ceiling.**

 **The soft glow that had been coming from within grew and, slowly, fireflies began drifting out. A few of them approached Jaune and began harassing him. Jaune, still half-asleep and his pants now fully down, tried to swat the little devils away. When that failed he grumpily grabbed his shovel and hit one with the toilet paper that sat on the handle. It was a good hit, but he not expecting the toilet paper to catch fucking fire!**

"O-hokay, literal fireflies. Yeah that's just perfect, why not?" Sun said.

" **What in the- whoa!" he cried in alarm, dropping the shovel. Looking out on the camp, he saw that wherever these things landed, if it was flammable, it** _ **would**_ **light up. He looked up at the glowing rock and saw the things were now swarming from within. "Fire." He said simply, before pulling up his pants and running through the camp, trying to warn everyone.**

 **Within his tent, Adam growled as he looked at the time. Oh, that answers my earlier question.**

" **I'm gonna kill him." He said to himself. "Arc, go back to bed." He said as he exited his tent to see the inferno the camp had become.**

" **Get some water on that fire!" Sienna yelled, handing a bucket to one of the troopers.**

" **No time!" Adam countermanded and pointed across the bridge. "Get us in those caves! Move it! Move it! Move it!"**

 **Not wasting a second, the trucks were on the move, the digger in the lead as they reached the narrow bridge.**

"There's no way that thing'll make it across." Yang said, "Not unless those tracks have hidden spikes."

"You're forgetting the bigger danger." Blake told her.

"What?"

"The Oiler."

"Oh. Ooooh. Oooh shit."

" **Jaune, jump!" Ruby yelled from the back of one of the trucks, her hand outstretched. He gladly took it and was hauled in just as a truck exploded behind him.**

 **Unfortunately for all, the Oiler was swarmed by the flies and at the back of the column. The driver screamed as his truck exploded at the base of the bridge. The rock formation was broken loose by the shockwave and fell, hitting the weakened bridge at the worst possible point and making it snap at the middle. Despite Neptune's best efforts, the Digger lost traction and slid backwards, taking what remained of the column with it. Thankfully, the bridge was just long enough to create a ramp, though the drivers of the various cars still had to try and wrestle control back from the clutches of gravity and momentum. With an almighty crash, everything came to a halt and darkness took over.**

"Looks like we were both right." Blake said.

"Unfortunately." Yang agreed.

 **Recovering quickly, Adam lit a match. "Alright, who's not dead? Sound off." He was answered by groans and muttering, and Oz's ornery humor.**

" **Dang blasted bugs done bit me on my sit-upon. Someone's gonna have to suck out this poison. Now don't everybody jump at once."**

The entire theater was filled with sounds of disgust and dry-heaving. Even Ozpin himself was disgusted with his counterpart.

" **Ruby, status report." Adam called as he turned on the headlights of one of the cars.**

" **Not as bad as it could have been." She said, looking around with a flashlight. "Rigs 2 and 7 are totaled, no question, but the Digger looks like it'll still run. Lucky we landed on something soft."**

 **Neptune zoomed his googles in as he rubbed some dirt between his fingers. "Pumice ash. We are standing at the base of a dormant volcano."**

" **Yeah, real lucky." Sienna muttered as she fired a flare into the air.**

" **It just keeps going." Ruby commented, watching the flare climb higher and higher.**

" **Maybe that's out ticket outta here." Nora posited, before the flare impacted the ceiling with a soft thump.**

" **Maybe not." Sienna commented.**

" **It appears the magma has solidified in the bowels of the volcano, effectively cutting off the exit." Neptune explained.**

" **I got the same problem with sauerkraut." Glynda commented.**

" **Uh, back up just a sec." Sun said, "Are you saying this whole volcano could blow at any time?"**

" **No, nonono," Neptune reassured him, "That would take an explosive force of great magnitude."**

 **As one, the entire expedition turned to Nora, who was idly working on a time bomb. She looked up and all the eyes on her.**

" **I'll just, work on this later, yeah?"**

"Okay, okay, that is freaking hilarious!" Weiss said amid her laughter.

"This movie is amazing!" Yang agreed.

" **If we could blow the top off that, it could give us a straight shot to the surface." Adam theorized. "Mr. Arc, what do you think?" he received no answer, because Jaune wasn't there. He had been thrown from the crash.**

 **Jaune lay on his back, unconscious and wounded in his shoulder. He roused when he heard soft voices speaking a language he didn't automatically recognize, which was surprising considering how many languages he spoke. He opened his eyes to see the warriors who had infiltrated their camp that night. Seeing their spears aimed at him, he panicked and tried to back away, only to gasp as he felt the pain in his shoulder. He grabbed it and looked at his hand, seeing the blood on it. The one who had gone through his stuff knelt next to him. They lifted their mask to reveal a familiar redheaded woman with darker skin and small tattoos under one eye.**

"There's our girl! Arkos sails once again!" Nora cheered.

"How is her hair red when it was white in her childhood?" Weiss asked.

"It could be some kind of genetic quirk specific to Atlanteans." Velvet guessed.

"That's not unheard of." Weiss said, "The populace of Mantle used to be filled with people with white hair and blue eyes until a few hundred years ago."

 **Jaune was stuck by how beautiful she was, but it didn't distract him from when she took the crystal on the necklace she wore and touched it to his wound. He felt a brief rush of heat as the woman pressed her hand against the cut and the equally sudden relief when she removed her hand and the wound was gone. She gave him a mocking grin as she put her mask back in place.**

 **Jaune was just about to speak to her when a massive rumbling signaled the arrival of the Digger and the rest of the expedition, and caused the warriors to flee.**

" **Hey wait!" he yelled, climbing over rocks to chase after the warriors, who used their spears and natural ability to agilely vault over the rocks. Despite this, Jaune kept up with them briefly, but lost them when he exited the caves onto a cliff covered in moss and grass. "Wait a minute! Who are you?"**

 **The expedition soon caught up with him, the Digger easily bursting through the cave wall. Any comments they were about direct at Jaune were quickly abandoned as they looked out from the cliff and saw a moderately sized island sitting in the middle of a circular lake surrounded by waterfalls. Even Sun rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things.**

" **Sweet Mother of the Maidens." Oz said in surprise.**

" **It's beautiful." Ruby agreed.**

"What she said." Velvet said, wide-eyed.

" **Jaune, I gotta hand it to you." Sun said, grabbing Jaune's shoulder, "You really came through."**

 **Near-silently, Pyrrha's warriors appeared behind the expedition, spears at the ready.**

" **Holy cats, who are these guys?" Adam said, grabbing the hilt of his sword.**

" **They gotta be Atlanteans!" Jaune said, the pieces coming together.**

" **What? That's impossible." Sienna said, going for her whip.**

" **I seen this back in Vacuo." Oz said, "They can smell fear just by looking at ya, so keep quiet."**

 **The leader lowered her spear and began speaking to the expedition in Atlantean, pointing and presumably questioning them.**

" **I think it's talking to you." Neptune said, nudging Jaune's arm.**

 **The warrior repeated her question, and Jaune walked forward. He had caught the gist of what she wanted, and replied as best as he could. Frowning, the leader took off her mask and handed it to one of her warriors. She was dressed in red cloth over her chest, with a matching skirt around her waist, a pauldron strapped to one shoulder, and bracers on her forearms.**

"How do you know our language?" Pyrrha translated for her double.

"It's my job?" Jaune guessed for his.

"It's your job to know our language?"

" _ **Ita, sum amice viator."**_ **Jaune said, switching to Latin, the original tongue of ancient Vale and the basis for the Common Tongue.**

" _ **Dices linguam Romae."**_ **Pyrrha replied, a bit surprised.**

" _ **Parlez-vous francais?"**_ **he switched to Attika's ancient regional tongue, a direct descendant of Latin.**

" _ **Oui monsieur."**_

" **Oh! Let me try!" Neptune said, pushing past Jaune,** _ **"Pardon, mademoiselle. Voulez-vous…"**_ **he whispered the rest to her, though apparently Pyrrha didn't like what he said, based on how she decked him and the lack of hesitation she showed.**

" **Woo! I like her." Sun clapped.**

"' **Bout time someone did it." Ruby commented, "I'm just sorry it wasn't me."**

"Everytime! Why? Why?" Neptune lamented.

 **The Atlantean warriors all took off their masks and greeted the expedition in various languages. Jaune noticed they all shared the same shade of white hair, in contrast to Pyrrha's vivid red.**

"Okay, scratch my theory." Velvet said.

"Maybe it's a mark of nobility." Blake guessed. "In certain fantasy settings and myths, certain genetic traits are often associated with royalty or seen as blessings from the gods."

" **How do they know all these different languages?" Ruby wondered aloud.**

" **Their language must based on a root dialect. Just like the Tower of Babel." Jaune theorized.**

"Bun, explain." Coco said.

Velvet poked her in the side, but did so. "It's another Christian story. To put it somewhat simply, a4fter a great flood, all mankind lived in one place and spoke one language. They decided to build a city there, along with a massive tower that would reach up to Heaven. Their God then comes down, sees their city and confounds their speech to the point they can't understand each other and their scatter around the world."

"And they still worship this guy?" Yang said. "He kinda sounds like a jerk if you ask me."

" **Well, maybe Common is in there somewhere too." Adam said. "We are explorers from the surface world. We come in peace." He said aloud.**

" **Welcome, to the city of Atlantis." Pyrrha said cordially. She walked up to Jaune and grabbed his wrist. "Come, you must speak with my father now."**

 **As the trucks started back up, Adam doled out his orders. "Squad B, head back to the shaft. Salvage what you can and rendezvous back in 24 hours." As Squad B followed their orders, the rest of the group piled into two trucks and followed the warrior troupe across a rope bridge over a magma flow into the city. Jaune sat with Sienna and Adam, and was talking aloud about the Atlantean language.**

" **And what's really amazing, is that if you deconstructed Latin, then overlaid it with a little Sumerian and threw in a dash of Thessalonian, you'd be getting close to their basic grammatical structure. Or least you'd be in the same ball park. Take that, Mr. Schnee's office!"**

" **Someone's excited." Sienna commented.**

" **Like a kid at Christmas." Adam agreed, leaning his head on three fingers as he drove.**

 **Sienna frowned, her concerns getting the best of her. "Commander, there were not supposed to be people here. This changes everything."**

" **This changes nothing." Adam said resolutely.**

'What are you planning, Adam?' Blake thought to herself.

"God, it is really freaking weird seeing this guy's eyes." Yang said, rubbing her prosthetic arm.

"Especially when all you've known is a mask." Weiss agreed.

 **They stopped near the top of a mountain in the center of the city, atop which sat the royal palace.**

 **Pyrrha led Jaune, Adam and Sienna deep into the palace, to the royal throne room. Guarded by a pair of men with matching tattoos on opposite sides of their faces, the chamber was open to the elements, with a massive pool in the center and a series of stone squares leading to the dais where the King sat on his throne. He was a massive man, and Jaune supposed he would have been even more so in his prime, with short white hair that still held small streaks of red in it and a matching beard that framed his face. Pyrrha strode to the base of the dais and bowed to the king.**

" _ **Greetings, your Highness. I have brought the visitors."**_ **Respectfully, Jaune adopted the same stance as her, while Adam and Sienna remained standing.**

" _ **You know the law, Pyrrha. No outsiders may see the city and live."**_

"Then how did the Shepard write the Journal?" Ruby said.

"He's probably the reason why they have that law." Blake argued.

" _ **Father, these people may be able to help us."**_

" _ **We do not need their help."**_

" _ **But father…"**_

" _ **That is enough. We will discuss this later."**_ **The King said with finality as he turned to Adam.**

" **Your majesty? On behalf of my crew, may I say it is an honor to be welcomed into your city." Adam said with a bow at the hips.**

" **Um, 'scuse me, commander?" Jaune said.**

" **You presume much to think you are welcome here." The King said.**

" **Sir, we have come a long way looking for- "**

" **I know what you seek, and you will not find it here. Your journey has been in vain."**

'They're standing right on top of it.' Blake thought. 'Whatever Adam is after is right beneath his feet and the king knows. He's probably seen it before.'

" **But we are peaceful explorers, men of science."**

" **Heh, and yet you carry weapons." The King gestured to Wilt and Blush.**

" **Our weapons allow us to, remove obstacles that we may encounter."**

" **Indeed, but not all obstacles may be removed with a mere show of force." He rose from hit throne and grabbed his scepter. "Return to your people. You must leave Atlantis, at once."**

" **Your majesty, be reasonable."**

" **Sir?" Jaune piped up.**

" **Not now, son." Adam growled back to him.**

" **Sir, please. Trust me on this. We had better do as he says."**

 **Adam paused and thought for a moment, trying to play all the angles he could think of.**

" **May I respectfully ask that we be permitted to stay one night?" He asked, "That way we can be rested and resupplied, and ready to travel by morning."**

" **Hmm. Very well." The King said begrudgingly. "One night, but that is all."**

" **Thank you, your majesty." Adam bowed as he led his delegation out of the throne room.**

"Well, that went about as well as I figured it would." Yang said.

"I've heard worse negotiations at home." Weiss added. Why her father wanted to conduct so much business at home, she knew and wished he would stop.

* * *

 **Over sixty chapters of this story, and by far this one feels like my weakest. Hopefully next week will be better.**

 **MCU Tracker: 1,335/2,000.**

 **Next Update: 3/17/20**


	66. Chapter 66- Atlantis, Part 6

**Happy St. Patty's Day folks! Too bad it's ruined thanks to COVID-19, just like my DnD Adventurer's League nights.**

 **TL;DR: The California Health Department has put a ban on all public gatherings of 50 people or more, and my local AL of choice usually attracts upwards of 80 people on average, split amongst 10 tables. As you can probably guess, I am still rather salty about all that.**

 **Nothing we can do now, though, except to get on with the chapter.**

 **MCU Tracker: 1,352/2,000**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 66

"So, Pyrrha, is this actually your father?" Nora asked.

"He is." Pyrrha smiled. "His name is Alexander, and he taught me everything I know about fighting. Although, he's not _that_ grey, last I checked."

"A champion spawning a champion. Makes sense for Mistral." Cinder scoffed. She had heard stories about Alexander Nikos and his great career as a competition fighter. Whereas his daughter was called 'The Invincible Girl', he was called 'The Conqueror' or simply 'The Great'.

 **Alexander groaned as he laid himself out on his throne, the years weighing heavily upon him.**

" **Your heart has grown soft, Pyrrha." He commented, not scolding, but observing, "A thousand years ago, you would have slain them on sight."**

" **A thousand years ago, the streets were lit, and our people didn't have to scavenge for food at the edge of a crumbling city!" She retorted.**

"She makes a pretty good point." Velvet said.

" **The people are content." Her father said.**

" **They do not know any better! We were once a great people, now we live in ruins." She sat next to her father and began wiping his brow with a damp cloth. "The kings of our past would weep if they could see how far we have fallen."**

" **Pyrrha." Her father warned her.**

" **If these outsiders can unlock the secrets of our past, perhaps we can save our future."**

" **What they have to teach us, we have already learned."**

" **Our way of life is dying."**

" **Our way of life is preserved!" he cupped her cheek like he used to all those centuries ago, and she leaned into it. "Pyrrha, when you take the throne, you will understand."**

"I can tell how much he loves you," Blake said, "But this secret I know he is keeping is gonna backfire hard."

"Doesn't it always?" Yang said with a cocked eyebrow.

 **Outside the palace, the embassy of Jaune, Adam, and Sienna rejoined the rest of the expedition.**

" **So, how did it go?" Sun asked.**

" **Well, the king and his daughter don't exactly see eye-to-eye." Jaune told them. "I mean, she seems to like us alright, but the king, I think he's hiding something."**

" **I agree." Adam said, "And I want to know what it is."**

" **Someone needs to talk to that girl." Sienna said, giving Adam a look.**

" **I will go!" Neptune said eagerly.**

"This you just doesn't learn, does he?" Sun grinned.

"You'd think a shot to the face would be a pretty clear indication." Neptune agreed. Even he was not that dumb.

" **Someone with good people skills." Nora suggested, seeing where Sienna was going.**

" **I will do it!"**

" **Someone who won't scare her away." Sun agreed.**

" **I volunteer!"**

" **Someone who speaks the language." Glynda added.**

" **For the good of the mission, I will go!"**

" **Good man, Arc." Adam said, tapping Jaune- who was reading through his notes during the conversation- on the shoulder. "Thanks for volunteering." The pencil dropped from Jaune's mouth.**

" **Aw, come on!" Neptune shouted.**

" **Go get 'em, tiger." Ruby teased Jaune as she dragged Neptune away.**

"Personally, I think you would make for an excellent wingman, Ruby." Jaune said.

"No way." Ruby snorted, "You must have me mistaken for Yang. I'm the dictionary definition of socially awkward."

 **A while later, Jaune watched from behind a pillar as Pyrrha came out of the palace, having taken off her armor in favor of more a comfortable tube top and dress. He had spent this time coming up with what to say to her and how to say it.**

" **Okay, one more time." He sighed. "Look, you, I have some questions and I'm not leaving this city until they're answered. Yeah. That's good. Nice and confidant."**

"Oh, Weiss, please tell me this isn't how I acted when I first tried flirting with you before initiation." Jaune groaned. Her silence was all the answer he needed, and he hung his head in embarrassment.

 **He looked around the pillar only to find she was gone. He walked out in confusion, which quickly turned to surprise as his arm was locked behind his back, and a hand was placed over his mouth.**

" **I have some questions for you, and you are not leaving this city until they are answered." Pyrrha whispered into his ear with a grin. She lifted her hand off his mouth so he could respond.**

" **Yeah, well I- okay." She clamped back down.**

" **Good. Follow me."**

"You know, that hold isn't all it's cracked up to be." Yang commented.

"How's that?" Ilia asked. She had used that same hold numerous times in the past to great effect.

"Because it has one glaring weakness."

"And that is?" Yang made a licking motion in the air. "Ah, right. Gross, but valid."

 **As Jaune followed her to a secluded, abandoned portion of the palace, he briefly considered how weak her hold had been. Thinking on it, there were at least three ways he could have broken it, based on what he had learned from so many sisters.**

" **Oh, there is so much to ask about your world." She sighed as they entered the moss-covered chamber. "You are a scholar, yes? Judging from your diminished physique and large forehead, you are suited for nothing else. What is your country of origin? When did the flood waters recede? How did you-"**

"Hey, I've really filled out since I came to Beacon." Jaune protested.

'He certainly has.' Pyrrha thought, remember the time she and Nora had "accidentally" walked in on the boys changing.

"I love the amount of sass this you has, Pyrrha." Nora commented.

" **Woah, woah, hold on there. I have questions for you as well. So how about we just trade off questions until one of us runs out? Sound good?"**

" **Very well. What is your first question?"**

" **Man, where to start." Jaune pondered. "Well, I guess I should start with how you came to be here. Not you personally, but your culture. I mean, how did all this," he gestured around at the room, "End up down here?"**

" **It is said that the gods grew jealous of Atlantis. They sent a great cataclysm and banished us here." Pyrrha explained, her eyes closing in recollection as she walked. "All I can remember is the sky growing dark, and people shouting and running. Then, a bright light, like a star, floating above the city. My father says it called my mother to it." She leaned against a pillar, the memory causing her pain. "I never saw her again."**

" **I'm sorry." Jaune said. "If it's any consolation, I know how you feel. I lost my- wait a minute. Wait a minute! Back it up! What, are you trying to tell me you remember because you were there? No way, cuz that would make you 85, 88… hundred! Years old."**

"I, don't even know where to start with that." Velvet said.

"I mean, theoretically," Glynda said, "A Semblance which passively heals you at all times without draining your Aura _could_ make an individual essentially immortal."

"Or you could just be Ozpin." Oscar commented to her.

" **I heard that."** Ozpin said in Oscar's head, making him laugh.

" **Yes." Pyrrha answered, non-plussed.**

" **Huh. Well, you, uh, you make it look good." He said trying to recover, "Um, what's your next question?"**

" **The same. How is it** _ **you**_ **came to be here?"**

" **Well, I'll ya, it wasn't easy." He pulled the Journal out of his satchel and showed it to her. "In fact, if it weren't for this book, we never would have made it." She took the Journal and opened it to a random page, and stared at it, taking in the letters and illustrations. "Ok, second question; legend has it that your people possessed a power source of some kind that allowed them to- "**

" **You mean, you can understand this?" Pyrrha interrupted.**

" **Yes, I'm a linguist. That's what I do, it's my job. Now, back to my question- "**

" **This, right here. You can read this?" she shoved the book in his face.**

" **Yes, yes, I can read Atlantean, just like you." He gently pushed the Journal down and saw the look of amazement and confusion in her eyes. And then it clicked. "You can't, can you?"**

"Man, there really are no words that do that justice." Coco said.

" **No one can. Such knowledge has been lost to us since the time of the Mehbelmok."**

" **Oh, the Great Flood."**

 **She eagerly handed him the Journal. "Show me."**

" **Okay." He turned to a random page earlier in the book and began to read aloud. As he did, Pyrrha translated it perfectly.**

" **Follow the narrow passage for another league. There you will find the fifth marker."**

" **Yeah. Yeah, that's it." Jaune smiled,**

"Okay, so they're more of an oral tradition society since the Great Flood." Velvet explained. "Their history and culture is passed down through spoken stories rather than written ones. It actually explains a lot."

"Is there a difference between the two?" Weiss asked.

"The written word tends to cause societies to develop faster than the oral tradition. Admittedly, there are additional factors to consider, but that's the pattern I've noticed at least."

" **Hey, how was my accent?"**

" **Boorish, provincial, and you speak it through your nose."**

" **Yeah, gotta work on that."**

" **Here, let me show you something." She said as she pulled him by the front of his shirt to a large object covered by cloth. She pulled off the cloth to reveal a large, stone, fish-like object.**

" **What? It looks like some kind of vehicle." Jaune said, his interest piqued.**

" **Yes. But no matter what I try, it will not respond. Perhaps if- "**

" **Way ahead of you." Jaune said, cracking his fingers and leaning over some runes carved into the stone. "Now, let's see here. 'Place crystal into slot.'"**

" **Yes, yes, I have done that." Pyrrha said impatiently.**

"' **Gently place your hand onto inscription pad.'"**

" **Yes!"**

" **Okay, did you turn the crystal one quarter-turn back?"**

" **Yes. Yes!"**

" **While your hand was on the inscription pad?"**

" **Ye- no."**

" **Welp, there's your problem right there." Jaune said, standing back up. "So, ready to give it a try?"**

"Well, at least he didn't rub it her face, unlike _some people_." Summer said, looking up at Tai.

Tai looked right back at her. "Really, you're gonna pull _that_ card from beyond the veil of death?"

She giggled and stuck her tongue out at him. He retaliated by kissing her one the nose.

"Knock it off." Qrow said, "You're making me diabetic with all that sweetness."

 **Pyrrha rolled her eyes and did as he said. When she turned the crystal, the inscription pad lit up with a light the same color as her crystal. When she turned it back and extracted the crystal, the runes all around the pad lit up with the same color and the vehicle began to hover.**

" **Yad la koneh." She said in amazement.**

" **Yeah, you got that right." Jaune agreed. "This, this is great! With this thing, I could see the whole city in no time at all! I wonder how fast it is." he placed a single finger on the inscription pad, and the fish took off and began bouncing off every corner and curve it found, finally coming right at the duo, making them duck before crashing into a wall and powering down slowly.**

 **Jaune looked at Pyrrha, who was giving him a small smile he knew well. One that was silently screaming 'you FUCKING idiot!'**

" **So, who's hungry?"**

"See what I mean?" Nora said, "She didn't say anything and is positively _overflowing_ with snark."

"I thought it was the sass that you loved about her." Pyrrha teased.

"Same thing!"

 **A while later, Pyrrha was leading as the pair climbed a massive statue.**

" **By the way, we were never properly introduced." Jaune said as he climbed, trying to match her hand and foot placements while simultaneously trying to not look up her dress, "My name's Jaune."**

" **My name is Pyrrha." She said.**

 **That threw him a bit. He had been expecting something long and complex, most likely multisyllabic. But that was almost disappointingly easy to remember.**

' **Ah well, gift horse I guess.' He thought. "Okay. Pyrrha. I can remember that. Wow." He said as Pyrrha helped him onto the top of the statue, the height rivalled only by the spires of the palace itself. He tried to contain the overflowing of emotions that welled up within him. Apparently he failed since his new companion noticed.**

" **What is wrong?" she asked.**

 **He wiped his eyes, gaze fixed firmly on the view before him. "My grandfather used to tell me and my sisters stories about this place as far back as I can remember. I just wish he could be standing here with me."**

"Well, that's new." Blake commented. "A male figure who isn't afraid to show his emotions."

 **It turned out that the people of Atlantis, despite what had happened to their civilization, lived a life not uncommon to many ancient and classical world societies. Their diets were primarily based around fish and unique crustaceans that required a certain trick to get them in a position where they could be prepared. Pyrrha demonstrated this technique when one of the little bastards tried to attack him and she simply bit it on the back of its' head.**

" **Tell me more about your companions." She said, "Your physician, his name is Oz, yes?"**

" **No, that's Sun."**

" **The man with the animal soul?"**

" **Is that a problem?" Jaune asked testily. He assumed she that was their term for a Faunus, and that meant she was in dangerous waters as far as he was concerned.**

" **No, rather it explains much. Those with animal souls are believed to be blessed by the gods, and destined for great things."**

"I suddenly like this place a whole lot more." Sienna commented with perked up ears.

"Seconded." Ilia agreed.

" **Good answer." Jaune smiled. Their conversations continued as they walked, eventually leading them to what Jaune assumed was an inn of some kind, or what may have been before the Flood.**

" **Your world worries me." Pyrrha told him as they ate. "You know of the blessed, but they are not revered. Your technology is beyond ours, but relies on dust. And that little digging creature that I punched called 'Mole', he is your pet?"**

" **Close enough." Jaune told her, lying through his teeth about Neptune.**

 **Back near the bridge, a group of soldiers pulled a crate from the back of one of the trucks. Using a crowbar, they pried it open to reveal several newly made bolt-action rifles. Dressed in long coats and wearing gas masks over their faces, they were an intimidating sight to behold.**

 **Elsewhere, Jaune and Pyrrha were catching fireflies as the day wound down, the same beetles that had set their camp alight mere hours previously.**

" **Y'know, Pyrrha, when we came down here," Jaune said, gently catching a firefly in his hands, "The most we hoped to find was some crumbling buildings, maybe some broken pottery, but instead we found a living, thriving society. As a side, these guys are kinda cute when they aren't collected into a column of fiery death."**

" **We are not thriving." Pyrrha said in dismay as Jaune put the firefly into a lamp attached to a pole, "True, our people live, but our culture is dying. We are like a stone the ocean beats against; every year, a little more of us is worn away."**

" **I wish there was something I could do." Jaune said sincerely.**

" **There may be. I have brought you to this place to ask for your help. There is a mural here, with writing all around the pictures."**

" _And it is at this point that I must step in, in the interest of sanity. One moment please, and I do apologize for this."_

Suddenly, all the men in the theater except for Jaune and Ren fell unconscious.

"Explain, Wolf." Coco growled as she checked Sun's vitals.

" _You will all thank me in a few moments."_

" **Welp, you came to the right guy." Jaune said, taking the lamp from her and planting it next to a fallen pillar. "Let's start right here, shall weeeeee…." He turned and saw that Pyrrha was taking off her dress. "Uh, Pyrrha, um, what are you doing?"**

" **You do swim, do you not?" she asked, turning around to face him. It was about that time he realized that her underwear must double as a bathing suit. And no, he was absolutely** _ **not**_ **distracted by her body, which somehow curved in exactly the right places.**

" **Oh, I swim pretty girl- pretty good! P-pretty good, I swim pretty good. That's what I meant."**

"Smooth." Yang said.

"Can't blame him, though." Coco said, wiping the small nose bleed she had. "Missy P is HOT!"

"And we now know why nearly every guy was knocked out.

" _You are welcome."_

" **Good. It is a fair distance to where we are going."**

" **No problem." He told her as he stripped down to his boxers. "You just so happen to be talking to the belly flop champ of Camp Runamuck." As he entered the water, he forgot that there was still air in his britches, and they puffed up the second he got in the water. Pyrrha stifled her laughter as he meekly pushed the air out and tried to recover what was left of his dignity. "Come on, we're wasting time." He quickly dove into the water to get used to things before resurfacing. "You wanna lead the way? Cuz, uh, I got no idea where I'm going." Rolling her eyes, Pyrrha and Jaune took deep breaths and dived under.**

Suddenly, the boys woke up.

"What the hell was that?" Sun asked groggily.

"The Wolf knocked you guys out." Coco informed him. "For good reason."

"What reason is that?" Neptune asked, annoyed.

"Ones you don't need to know. Capiche?" She replied with a threatening grin.

 **They swam for a few minutes, with Pyrrha leading them to an underwater ruin. Straining for air, Jaune was thankful when she led them up to a small air pocket, even when he banged his head against the stone as he breached.**

" **You alright?" she asked, inspecting his head.**

" **Well, I didn't drown." He said, rubbing the lump on his head.**

" **Good. Follow me." she took another deep breath and dived, with Jaune hot on her trail.**

 **Using her necklace as a light, she led Jaune to a mural, where Jaune quickly began translating. He signaled her to go up.**

" **This is amazing." He said, "A complete history of Atlantis. It's just like Ozma described it, admittedly he was off on a few details, but-"**

" **The light I saw. The star in the middle of the city. What does the writing say about that?" Pyrrha pressed.**

" **Nothing yet. But I'm gonna find out." Now it was his turn to dive first.**

"I just got this image of Jaune spending his time translating all of that with a giant hose sticking out of his mouth attached to a bouy." Velvet chuckled.

"Head canon accepted." Nora said.

 **He led them to another mural, but this one had no writings, so they were left to interpretation. It showed several large figures surrounding a large star the same color as the crystals all Atlanteans wore. Their arms were outstretched and a circle formed around them. It seemed to Jaune that the circle was some kind of shield. He went back to the original mural and read some more script at the top. He grabbed Pyrrha's necklace and pointed at it before pointing back up at the air pocket.**

" **The Heart of Atlantis." He said when he came up.**

" **What?" Pyrrha asked.**

" **It's the Heart of Atlantis!" he exclaimed, "That's what the Shepard was talking about. It wasn't a star, it was some kind of crystal. Like these!" he held up the crystal on her necklace. "Don't you see? The power source I've been looking for, the bright light you remember, they're the same thing!"**

" **That cannot be." She said.**

" **It's what's keeping all these things, you, all of Atlantis alive."**

" **Then where is it now?"**

" **I don't know. You'd think something this big would've been in the Journal. Unless… the missing page."**

"And now we know what Adam and Sienna are really after." Blake said.

"But more importantly, is the Doctor in on it as well?" Velvet added.

* * *

 **Nothing to really say here except to remember what I said about keeping COVID at bay; wash your hands, cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough, and DO NOT PANIC!**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite and leave a Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 3/24/20**


	67. Chapter 67- Atlantis, Part 7

**God, man, fuck this chapter. Fuck it and everything it stands for.**

 **So, this was supposed to be the finale, but 15 pages and 6k+ words was just too much for me and my rapidly depleting writing mojo. So ultimately, i found a good place to stop and broke it off there to make things more manageable.**

 **MCU Counter: 1,363/2,000**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 67

"So, the Heart of Atlantis is like this giant fuck-off crystal?" Sun asked, "And it's what? The _soul_ of the people in the city?"

"Well, if it's something of value, now we know what Adam's endgame is." Blake sighed.

"At least he's not an ultra-violent extremist in this one." Ilia said, trying to find a bright side. "And he seems to be okay with humans."

"And instead of being terrorists, the White Fang are mercenaries, I assume." Sienna added. "Oddly enough, I'm okay with that."

 **Jaune gasped for air as he broke the surface where he and Pyrrha had left, clawing for purchase on the stone floor before him. As he caught his breath, he heard a familiar voice speak up in front of him.**

" **You have a nice swim?" he looked up and saw Adam sitting before him with a smug grin on his face, his sword sitting in the crook of his neck. Around him were the rest of the crew and a squad of stormtroopers.**

 **Everyone was armed with guns of different kinds, except for Ruby- who was wielding a large heavy wrench- and Sun- who was unarmed but Jaune was fairly sure could take him without one.**

" **I knew it." Jaune sighed, "I'm such an idiot. This is just another treasure hunt for you, isn't it? You're after the crystal."**

" **Oh, you mean this?" Adam said, pulling a piece of vellum paper out of his boot and showing it to Jaune. The writing was Atlantean, and the illustrations matched what he saw in the Journal and the mural he had just been examining.**

" **The Heart of Atlantis."**

"I hate it when I'm right sometimes." Blake groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose.

" **Yeah, about that." Adam said as he stood, "I would've told you sooner, but it was strictly need-to-know and, well, you didn't need to know. I had to make sure you were one of us first. Welcome to the club, son." He put Wilt on his belt and offered Jaune a hand up.**

" **I'm no mercenary." Jaune said defiantly. As Pyrrha breached the surface, one of the stormtroopers grabbed her by the hair and pulled her out of the water. Once she had gotten her footing, she grabbed the man by the head and threw him into the water, freeing her hair as she did. Instincts kicked in, and she turned and saw the next threat charging her.**

"Talk about warrior princess." Mercury commented with a nod.

"More like a savage." Emerald commented, hoping Cinder would approve.

"To us, she most certainly would be." Cinder said, "But then, we are thousands of years more advanced than they are. Not exactly a fair comparison."

Mercury snickered as he watched Emerald wilt.

 **She charged back, kneeing him in the stomach and using the butt of his rifle to knock out the next trooper before turning back to him. She pushed him down onto his back and pulled a dagger, holding it a lot only for it to be shot out of her hands. Looking for where the shot came from, she saw Adam aiming Blush at her, the barrel smoking. A pair of troopers came to restrain her, but not before she kicked the trooper she was about to kill in the nethers.**

"Okay, that was a little excessive." Pyrrha commented.

 **Adam turned back to Jaune, sheathing his weapons. "Mercenary? I prefer the term 'adventure capitalist.' Besides, you're the one who got us here, led us right to the treasure chest."**

" **You don't know what you're messing with here, Adam." Jaune shouted as he hauled himself out of the water.**

" **What's to know? It's big, it's shiny, it's gonna make us all rich."**

" **You think it's some kind of diamond, I thought it was some kind of battery, but we're both wrong. It's their life force." He pleaded more to the emotions of the crew than those of Adam. "That crystal is the only thing keeping these people alive. You take that away and they'll die!"**

" **Well, that changes things." Adam said, walking over to his lieutenant. "Sienna, what do you think?"**

" **If that's the case," she took the paper from him and looked it over, "I'd double the price."**

" **I was thinking triple." Adam retorted.**

"Damn that's cold." Mercury commented. Even he wasn't that without heart. Yeah, he wasn't above letting a few folks die to complete the job, but genocide? That was beyond crossing the line.

" **Adam, don't do this." Jaune pleaded again.**

" **Academics. You never want to get your hands dirty. Think about it, kid. If you returned every stolen artifact in a museum, all you'd be left with is an empty building. We're just… providing a necessary service to the archaeological community."**

"That's unfortunately true." Velvet said, her ears drooping. "Taking those artifacts is the only way we can learn about our past, but in doing so, we are also stealing from their descendants, who have a right to their heritage, same as us."

" **Not interested." Jaune knew it was the truth, but that didn't mean he had to like it or condone it.**

" **Well, I gotta admit, I'm disappointed." Adam said, actually sounding disappointed. "You're an idealist, just like your grandfather. Do yourself a favor, Jaune, don't be like him. For once, do the smart thing." Jaune just glared at him. "Ugh, I hate it when negotiations go sour." Adam snapped his fingers and the troopers holding Pyrrha threw her to the ground and aimed their rifles at her skull. "Now," Adam held up the page for Jaune to see. "Let's try this again."**

"We've talked about how Sun and Nora should have switched roles, but Adam seems made for this." Blake said.

"Callous, charismatic, self-assured. Sounds about right for him." Sienna agreed.

 **The next thing Jaune knew, the doors to the throne room were blown open. Pyrrha was being held by Sienna. Nora stood in the middle of the opening, tossing a stick of dynamite in her hands.**

" **Knock, knock." She said with a little enjoyment.**

" **Room service!" Oz added, aiming his double-barreled shotgun at the guards.**

"Worst room service ever." Pyrrha and Weiss said simultaneously.

"I disagree on principle." Nora said.

"Sometimes that's the only way to get me up in the morning." Yang said.

 **The guards stood defiantly in defense of their king.**

" **Tell them to drop their weapons, now." Sienna said, aiming her gun at Pyrrha's head.**

" _ **Do as she says."**_ **King Alexander ordered, and the guards complied.**

" **Spread out! Search everywhere." Sienna ordered, and the crew began tearing the place apart.**

" **You're not applying yourself, son." Adam said, as he man-handled Jaune. "There's gotta be something else."**

" **Well, there's not." He said as Adam gripped the front of his shirt. "It just says, 'the Heart of Atlantis lies in the eye of her king.'"**

" **Well then, maybe Old King Cole here can help us fill in the blanks." Adam walked over to the king, and slashed his staff in two, but the venerable old man stood just as strong on his feet without it. "How about it, Chief? Where's the crystal chamber?"**

"Why do bad guys always think that's going to work?" Sun said, "You just blew open the door to his throne room, and threatened his daughter. Why the hell would he tell you anything?"

"Maybe cuz he's threatening his daughter?" Blake said.

" **You will destroy yourselves." He warned angrily.**

" **Maybe I'm not being clear." Adam said before he grabbed Wilt and jammed the pommel into the old king's gut, doubling him over. Pyrrha let out a string of curses in Atlantean foul enough to peel paint.**

" **Adam, this was not a part of the plan." Sun said as he began looking at the king's injury.**

" **Plans change, Doc. I suggest you put a Band-Aid on that bleeding heart of yours. It doesn't suit a mercenary." Adam walked over to the throne and sat in it. "Well, once again, diplomacy has failed us. Now, I'm going to count to 10, and you're going to tell me where the crystal is. 1…" he drew Wilt from Blush. "2…" he cocked the gun. Everyone in the room tensed up, wondering if he would really go that far. "9…" he aimed Blush at the king. "T-" he stopped as a drop of water fell from the ceiling into the middle of the pool before him.**

 **Looking closer, he saw that the stone in the water were arranged in a familiar pattern: a perfect Atlantean A.**

"The Heart of Atlantis lies in the eye of her king. Poetic and accurate." Blake said.

" **The Heart of Atlantis lies in the eye of her king!" he muttered as he stood up. "This is it! We're in!" he tossed the Journal to Jaune and began to wade into the water.**

" **Adam, for the last time, you gotta listen to me." Jaune pleaded as Sienna pulled Pyrrha into the water. "You don't have the slightest idea what this power is capable of."**

" **True." Sienna agreed. "But I can think of a few countries who would pay anything to find out."**

"Bitch." Sienna muttered about herself.

 **Adam found a hidden platform just under the surface of the water directly under where the light entered into the room. He put one foot on it and felt the whole thing shift downward.**

" **Get on." He ordered, pulling Jaune onto the platform, while Sienna pushed Pyrrha. The quartet descended into an unlit chamber where a giant crystal sphere hung in the air, surrounded by a series of stones with human faces carved into them. Adam smiled as he stepped off the platform. "Jackpot."**

 **Pyrrha looked up at the stones and felt a sense of familiarity when she gazed upon the stone faces.**

" **The kings of our past." She whispered, tears in her eyes, before falling to her knees and bowing before them, her forehead to the ground and rapidly reciting what prayers she knew.**

" **Arc, tell her to wrap it up, we got a schedule to keep." Adam said dismissively.**

 **Jaune glared at the back of his head. Her turned his gaze to Sienna, who, to her credit, actually seemed to respect what Pyrrha was doing. His glared softened somewhat and he knelt down next to Pyrrha, stopping her prayers and apologizing, though he knew it was worth little coming from him.**

 **Adam walked to the edge of the pool of water the Heart peacefully floated over and kicked a small rock into the water. Immediately, the soft blue glow that came from the sphere turned an angry red and beams of that light began to scan the chamber.**

" **Come on, let's get this over with." Sienna said, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up, "I don't like this place."**

"She may be a bitch, but she's smart." Ghira commented.

"Still a bitch." Sienna grumbled.

" **Alright, Arc, what's next?" Adam said.**

" **Okay, so, let's start with the fact that there's a giant crystal hovering 150 feet above us over a bottomless pit of water. Does nothing surprise you?"**

 **As their argument began, the light passed over Pyrrha and turned back to its normal soft blue. Her crystal floated into the air and pointed at the Heart.**

" _ **Mother."**_ **She said as her eyes took on the same blue color as the lights.**

" **I don't know how to move it." Jaune told Adam, "I don't even know what's holding it up there."**

"After everything we've been through in the past few months, I'm willing to just say magic at this point." said Weiss.

"Maidens, Salem, Relics. Kind of hard to deny something when you're looking right at it." Blake agreed.

"Seems Ozma has informed them. The question is, how much?" Salem mused. She turned her eyes back to the tablet menu, her insane metabolism having already dealt with what she had consumed.

 **Their fight stopped as they saw Pyrrha calmly walk past them. Jaune made to stop her, but Adam held him back. She stopped at the edge of the pool.**

" **Talk to me, Arc. What's happening?"**

" **Look, all it says is that the crystal is alive, somehow. I- I don't know how to explain it. It's their deity, it's their power source."**

" **Speak Common, Professor."**

" **It's a part of them, they're a part of it. I'm doing the best I can over here."**

" **Well, do better." Adam growled as he began to draw Wilt.**

" **Oh, I know. How about you translate, and I'll wave the gun around!"**

" _ **All will be well, Jaune Arc. Be not afraid."**_ **Pyrrha said in a distorted, ethereal voice. Jaune could hear her voice was dominant in some way, but it was layered with so many other voices that it was almost hard to hear.**

"Man, I love how freaky that voice effect is." Sun said. "Kinda gives me chills."

" **What did she say?" Adam asked.**

" **I- I don't know. I didn't catch it." Jaune lied. Adam knew of course, but decided to let things play out.**

 **Pyrrha continued to walk forward in a trance, but the trio were amazed when she left ripples in the water as she walked** _ **on it.**_ **She walked out further until she was directly under the Heart. The lights converged on her in the same way they had her mother during the Flood, and she was lifted up into the air. Soon, she was absorbed into the crystal of the Heart, and then the stone faces began to spin around it. A low hum emitted from the Heart as the stones spun faster and faster and eventually began to slow. Within, the trio could see that the crystal was gone, replaced by a humanoid form that rendered into a perfect replica of Pyrrha made entirely out of crystal.**

 **She floated back to the surface of the water and walked back to land, but as she did, the stone faces began to fall into the pool around her. She should have been soaked, but she appeared to be generating a barrier of some kind that kept the back splash away from her. Adam made to touch her as she passed by, but Jaune stopped him.**

"Okay, that is new." Salem admitted.

* * *

 **Once this is done, I am seriously considering taking a much needed sabbatical from writing this story. I'm fucking tired.**

 **Next Update: 3/31/2020**


	68. Chapter 68- Atlantis, Finale

**Home stretch, folks, let's do this.**

 **MCU Counter: 1,377/2,000**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 68

 **A short while later, Pyrrha was contained within a steel box that was loaded onto a truck near the entrance to the city. Jaune glared at every member of the crew who went along with it, but none of them would hold his gaze.**

" **So, I guess this is how it ends, huh?" He said, walking back to the gathered crowd of Atlanteans. "Fine. You win. You're wiping out an entire civilization, but what do you care? You're gonna be rich. Congrats, Ruby. Looks you and your dad will be able to open that second garage after all. And Nora, you can start a whole chain of flower shops. I'm sure your family 's gonna be very proud of you. But that's what it all comes down to, isn't it? Money."**

"The guilt trip is a subtle art." Jaune joked, "One that requires years of practice and multiple test subjects to master."

"And your sisters?" Nora asked.

"A master, every single one of them."

" **Get off your high horse, Arc." Adam said, walking past him, "You've read Darwin. It's called natural selection. We're just helping it along."**

" **Commander, we're ready." Sienna called.**

" **Yeah, give me a minute. I know I'm forgetting something." He began ticking things off on his fingers. "I've got the cargo, the crystal, the crew… oh yeah." He spun around and punched Jaune in the jaw hard enough to send the man flying. As he landed, his family portrait fell out of his bag.**

" **Look at it this way, kid." Adam stepped on the portrait as he approached Jaune. "You're the man who discovered Atlantis, and now you're part of the exhibit." Jaune glared at him even fiercer as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. The crew watched as Jaune carefully moved the shattered glass out of the way and pulled the picture free, trying to hold back tears.**

" **Let's move people." Adam ordered.**

 **Ruby sat in the driver's seat of her car, warring with herself mentally.**

" **That was an order, not a suggestion." Sienna shouted, "Let's go!"**

'Aaaand, cue changes of heart.' Blake thought to herself.

 **Ruby sighed an angry sigh and climbed out of the truck. She quickly moved to help Jaune stand, though he would not look at her. She glared at Nora and Neptune. Nora nodded and stood on the other side of Jaune, helping him stand tall. Then, Ozpin got out. He looked at Glynda, who simply took another drag from her cigarette. Oz nodded and Neptune joined him as they walked over to stand beside Jaune.**

 **Glynda exhaled, the smoke pouring out of her. "We're all gonna die." She said before climbing out and joining the defectors.**

"Alright, souls confirmed." Weiss said with a little relief.

"Good thing, too." Yang agreed, "Ruby had me worried there for a minute."

 **Adam looked in the mirror and saw the traitors. "Oh, you cannot be serious right now."**

" **This is wrong and you know it!" Ruby yelled.**

" **We're this close to our biggest payday ever and you pick** _ **now**_ **of all times to grow a conscience?"**

" **We've done a lot of things we're not proud of." Nora said, "Robbing graves, plundering tombs, double parking, but, nobody ever got hurt. Well, maybe somebody got hurt, but nobody we knew."**

"As if that makes it better." Blake scoffed.

"For some people it does." Ilia said, earning her several looks. "I'm just saying on behalf of everyone who lives in the morally grey areas."

"And for that, we thank you." Qrow said in her defense.

" **Well, if that's the way you want it, fine. More for me." he climbed into his truck as Sienna climbed into the other. "P.T. Barnum was right."**

 **As the trucks began to cross the bridge, the waterfalls ran dry. Looking behind them, Jaune could see the crystal necklaces the Atlanteans wore losing their shine.**

" **We can't let him do this." Jaune said, running after the trucks.**

" **No, wait." Nora said, holding him back.**

 **As the trucks cleared the bridge, Adam picked up a pre-positioned detonator and turned the plunger. The bridge erupted in a series of explosions that destroyed it, and what pieces of the bridge that weren't annihilated fell into the lava flow beneath it.**

" **Okay, now you can go." Nora told him.**

"I'll say it again; this movie is really good with it's comedy." Weiss said.

"Wolf, was this seriously a kids movie?" Blake asked.

" _It was produced and released by a company famous for making excellent children's movies. However, it mainly appealed to older audiences by breaking from the company's musical number formula. Apparently, the team who worked on it wore shirts that said 'ATLANTIS- less singing, more explosions.'"_

"Now there's something I can get behind." Yang grinned.

" _Indeed. It remains today as a cult classic film."_

" **Jaune!" they heard Sun yell down. "You better get up here."**

" **How's he doing?" Jaune asked as he enter the throne room to see Sun with a stethoscope to the king's chest.**

" **Not good." He said simply. "Internal bleeding. There's nothing else I can do."**

" **What a nightmare. And I brought it here."**

" **Oh, don't be beating yourself up too bad. That bull has been after that crystal since Mantle."**

" **The crystals! Sun, that's it. These crystals have some kind of healing power. I've seen it work."**

" **No." the king said, putting his hand on Jaune's. "Where is my daughter?"**

"Wait a sec, did he not see the giant crystal version of his daughter come up from the chamber?" Sun asked.

"And how did they even get her out?" Neptune added.

"Just chalk it up to plot and leave it." Blake said with great strain. She hated plot holes herself, but now was not the time to debate them.

 **Jaune tried to find the right words, but how are you supposed to tell a father that his daughter has merged with what is basically the soul of an entire people, been turned into a crystalline version of herself, and taken by mercenaries who would sell her to God only knows.**

" **Then she has been chosen, like her mother before her."**

" **What?"**

Blake immediately leaned forward in anticipation of the coming exposition.

" **In times of danger, the crystal will chose a host, one of royal blood, to protect itself and it's people. It will accept no other."**

" **Wait a minute, choose? So this thing is alive?" Jaune asked, sitting down next to the king.**

" **In a way. The crystal thrives on the collective emotions of all those who came before us. In return, it provides power, longevity, protection. As it grew, it developed a consciousness of its own. In my arrogance, I sought to use it as a weapon of war, but its power proved too great to control. It overwhelmed us, and led to our destruction."**

"Pyrrha, I'm sorry, but your dad is starting to sound a lot like mine." Weiss groaned.

"How so?"

"One: most likely married into a powerful family."

"It would explain why he wasn't chosen when the light passed over him at the start of the movie, but his wife and daughter were." Blake muttered.

"Two… actually, just the one now that I think about it." Weiss said.

" **That's why you hid it beneath the city. To keep history from repeating itself."**

" **And to prevent Pyrrha from suffering the same fate as my wife, my beloved Helen."**

"And he cares about his wife. Sounds like what Jacques could have been if he were literally anyone else." Winter commented. She noticed Sienna give her a quizzical look. "What?"

"It sounds like you hate your old man as much as most White Fang members do." Sienna commented.

"I don't want him dead, if that's what you mean." Winter frowned.

"Let's just say that Mr. Branwen would have been a better father, and leave it at that." Weiss said.

" **What do you mean? What's going to happen to Pyrrha?" Jaune was standing now.**

" **If she remains bonded to the crystal, she could be lost to it forever. The love of my daughter is all I have left. My burden would have become hers when the time was right, but now," he took off his necklace and gave it to Jaune, "It falls to you. Return the crystal. Save Atlantis. Save my daughter." He sighed as his strength finally left him and he passed on. His guards knelt before him as Sun put away his tools.**

 **He took a deep breath. This was hardly the first time he had lost a patient, and he knew it would not be the last. Instead of dwelling on his failure, he focused on what he could do and turned to Jaune.**

" **So, what's it gonna be?" he asked Jaune.**

" **Excuse me?"**

" **I followed ya in, and I'll follow you back out. It's your decision."**

" **My decision?" Jaune said angrily, turning on the topless monkey faunus. "Let's take a little look at my decisions thus far, shall we? I lead a group of plundering vandals to the greatest archaeological find in known history, thus enabling the kidnap and/or murder of the royal family, not to mention delivering the most powerful force on Remnant into the hands of a mercenary nutcase, who's probably gonna sell it to the Kaiser! Have I left anything out?!"**

" **Well, you did set the camp on fire and drop us down that big hole."**

" **QED!" Jaune said and threw the Journal to the floor.**

"I mean, when you put it like that, anything would sound bad." Pyrrha said in Jaune's defense.

Jaune chuckled. "Just say it, Pyr; I fucked up."

 **Sun picked it back up. "Of course, in my experience, once you hit bottom, the only place left to go is up."**

" **And who gave you that gem?" Jaune replied snidely.**

" **Fella by the name of Johnathan Arc."**

 **The name of his grandfather was all Jaune needed to hear. He looked at the crystal in his hands and gripped it tightly. Sun could practically see the fire in his eyes as Jaune strode out of the palace with a confidence he had never felt before. It surprised the crew, and they all wondered what had happened in there.**

" **Where are you going?" Ruby asked.**

" **I'm going after Adam." He told her.**

" **Jaune, that's crazy." She told him.**

" **I never said it was the smart thing to do, but it is the right thing."**

 **Ruby sighed in exasperation and a small grin formed on her face. "Come on, we better make sure doesn't get himself killed."**

"It's so good to know you care, Crater Face." Jaune joked.

"Oh, shove it, Vomit Boy."

 **They followed Jaune until he found another of the stone vehicles.**

" **Jaune, what are you doing?" Ruby asked as he climbed on top.**

" **Just watch." He said. He did exactly as he did with the last one, but kept his hand on the pad as the engine revved to life. "It's real simple. All you gotta do is-"**

" **Yeah, yeah, yeah, shut up, we're very impressed." Ruby said as she climbed up behind her and reached for the pad. He tried to stop her, but he was too late. Luckily, the fish they were riding only went backwards and rammed into the wall.**

Jaune golf clapped as Ruby bemoaned her double's impatience.

" **Gently!" Jaune said as the engine died.**

" **Hey, Jaune, you got anything sporty? You know, like a tuna?" Nora asked.**

" **How is this done?" one of the Atlantean guards asked.**

" **All you gotta do is use the crystals." He told them. "Pyrrha showed me how." He ran over to another hammerhead shark. "Half turn right, quarter turn back. Keep your hand on the pad." The air was soon filled with the sound of engine humming to life after centuries of dormancy and gasps of wonder and awe from the new riders.**

"At least they have enough juice to do this." Sun said, "I got a feeling this will be a great final battle."

" **Saddle up, pardners!" Oz said, hopping onto the back of his tuna, shotgun in hand. "Bring jerky n' ammo."**

"This movie's Oz and Glynda are my favorite parts right now." Qrow chuckled. It was just so not them, and that made it great to him.

" **Alright, this is it!" Jaune said, "Save the princess, save the city, or die trying! Now let's do this!" the Atlanteans cheered as the small fleet soared overhead.**

 **At the base of the shaft, a stormtrooper fired something like a mortar straight up at the ceiling. It impacted and a light shone through. Adam stood amidst the rubble and looked up at it.**

" **I love it when I win."**

 **As the Atlantean fleet sailed over the lava flow and into the caves, the expedition forces deployed a large hot air balloon and began to attach the box holding Pyrrha to it.**

" **Alright, here's the plan." Jaune said as they closed in on the expedition, "We're gonna come in low and fast, take 'em by surprise."**

" **Jaune, I've got news for you; Adam is never surprised, and he has a lot of guns." Ruby told him.**

" **Great. Well, do you have any suggestions?"**

" **Yeah: don't get shot!" Nora yelled up.**

 **As the box was hoisted into the air, the fleet came into view of the expedition.**

" **There they are!" Jaune said.**

" **We got company." Adam alerted his men, who quickly began to fire upon the aircraft. The Atlantean warriors returned fire with arrows. The expedition began to deploy small single-man flying craft who quickly began to engage their flying opponents.**

" **Son of a-" Jaune yelled as he dodged fire from one of the flyers. "You told me he only had guns!"**

" **I also said he's never surprised." Ruby retorted.**

"He probably considered this eventuality." Jaune said, "Why else would he bring military grade weapons and a freaking hot air balloon on an expedition?"

"You think he planned for a girl to turn to crystal, and then have to engage in a limited air battle against native and defector forces on his way out?" Ruby asked skeptically.

"Okay, maybe not exactly this specifically, but maybe elements of this, which when combined and liberally interpreted, bear a close resemblance to this."

 **Nora began to take fire from a machine gun and ducked low to her fish for cover. Inadvertently, she laid her hand on another inscription pad, and the mouth of her fish began to glow before an energy beam came from the mouth and destroyed a pair of trucks carrying anti-air cannons. She looked at her hand and smiled.**

" **Okay, now, things are getting good." She said.**

"Is it still cheating Mercury?" Emerald said.

"Meh, at least now they have a way to put up a decent fight." He shrugged.

" **Nora, heads up!" Jaune called out to her. "We can't let them reach the top of that shaft."**

 **With their new-found firepower, the Atlanteans began to put up a stiffer fight, even managing to destroy the truck that was launching the flyers. Nora decided to play chicken with one of the flyers and when neither one blinked, she fired her beam and destroyed the craft. Face covered in soot from the smoke cloud and a manic grin on her face, Jaune came up beside her.**

" **Nora, new plan. You and me are gonna be decoys. Ruby, Sun, you guys fly up underneath that thing and cut her loose."**

" **Copy that, good buddy." Sun replied with a thumbs up.**

 **While Jaune and Nora held Adam and Sienna's attention up top, Ruby was crouched on the top of the steel box, taking Sun's saw to the chains.**

" **I thought you said this thing could cut through a femur in 28 seconds!" she yelled at him.**

" **Less lip, more saw, Red." He fired back.**

"I love that there's this little Ruby x Sun side ship going on in the background." Ilia commented.

"It needs a name." Nora said. "How about Red Sun? It's either that or Strawbanana."

"Go with the first one. Simplicity is key."

 **Jaune flew right at Adam, who was firing at Jaune with a machine gun in hand. He turned to fire at Jaune, only to have it shot from his hands by an energy beam courtesy of Nora, who gave him a flippant salute as she flew by.**

 **Adam looked down and saw what Ruby and Sun were doing as Sienna ran out of ammo for her pistol and threw it away.**

" **Looks like somebody's working overtime." He commented. Sienna responded by releasing one of the gas canister for the balloon. It dropped like a lead weight and exploded behind Ruby, destroying her and Sun's ride.**

" **That's it! We're done here." Sun said, pulling Ruby away by her overalls.**

 **Seeing that his plan had failed, Jaune circled back around and above the balloon.**

" **Alright, Jaune, this is it. Any last words?" he asked himself, making a silent prayer to whatever god was listening. "Yeah, I really wish I had a better plan than this." He angled his shark towards the balloon and rammed it into one of the four secondary balloons, jumping off at the last minute and grabbing onto the rope mesh on the main balloon.**

"Okay, yeah, that was stupid." Jaune said.

"I agree." Ren nodded. "Even if he had Aura, the fall would have done some serious damage."

 **Adam saw the back-up balloon go down and saw the ground coming back towards him.**

" **We're losing altitude!" he said over the din of battle. "Lighten the load!"**

 **Sienna quickly helped him clear out anything non-essential. She finished by heaving an empty oil drum over the side.**

" **That's it, unless someone wants to jump." He reported.**

" **Ladies first." Adam said, grabbing her arms from behind and pushing her over.**

"Fucking- every time. Every damn time with him." Sienna growled.

 **Quickly, she grabbed the railing as she fell and swung back up, kicking Adam full in the chest as she regained purchase up top.**

"But you're not going without a fight." Kali said, rubbing her friends shoulder.

"Damn straight."

" **You said we were in this together." She growled before she kicked him again, this time to the face before following up with a roundhouse. "You promised me a percentage." She made for another roundhouse, but Adam caught her foot and used it to push her over for good.**

" **Next time, get it in writing. Nothing personal!" he never expected Jaune to then immediately coming swinging down from above, but that's what happened. The two fell over the side, but Adam grabbed a rope and used it slide down to the lower level of the balloon, forcing himself to suffer the burn from the rope. The pair collapsed on the narrower walkway and Jaune nearly fell into the spinning blades that helped keep the balloon aloft.**

 **Jaune managed to pull himself up to see Adam with his eyepatch removed and why he kept it covered so insistently. His other eye was horribly mangled, bloody with a grey iris and white sclera, and over it all, a brand of three letters; SDC.**

"Blake, is that for real?" Weiss asked.

"Yes. It happened when he was younger, after his parents had died working in a particularly bad Dust mine."

"Don't bother asking for a name." Sienna said, almost sadly. "Shortly after I took power of the White Fang and aggressive tactics became more common, he gathered a small strike force and killed the man responsible himself. That was about when his popularity really began to rise in our ranks."

" **Well, I have to hand it to you, you're a bigger pain in the neck than I ever would have thought possible." Adam said. Jaune rose and made to punch him, but Adam easily caught it, threw it back in his face and sent Jaune flying with a kick to the gut. He landed so hard against the railing that it broke off from the walkway, bent backwards and got caught in the blades, stopping them. "I consider myself and even-tempered guy. It takes a lot to get under my skin. But congratulations, you just won the Golden Gus Trophy."**

 **Down below, Sienna groaned as she came to. She looked up and saw that the balloon was still in range of her last weapon. Straining under the effort, she drew her flare gun and aimed at the balloon.**

" **Nothing personal." She said as she fired at the main balloon. The ball of fire flew up and found its mark with an explosion, leaving only two support balloons to try and carry the weight.**

"If I'm going down, you're coming with me this time, asshole!" Sienna cheered.

 **Adam grabbed the emergency fire axe and climbed down after Jaune. If he was going down, that human prick was going with him. He swung at Jaune, missing him twice and on the second time he smashed the glass that was containing Pyrrha. Thinking quick, Jaune grabbed a shard. When Adam hoisted him up and held him aloft before he swung the axe a third time, Jaune slashed the inside of the man's forearm.**

 **Adam cried out in pain and lost his grip, allowing Jaune to escape up the railing. He wanted to follow, but he felt something wrong with his arm. Looking down, he saw a layer of crystal beginning to rapidly form on it. He tried to get it off, but it spread too quickly, engulfing his entire arm in less than a second, and soon his entire body was crystalized.**

"Man, talk about a way to go." Yang commented.

"Hardcore." Nora agreed.

 **Looking down, Jaune sighed when he saw the man frozen in a shriek of horror. "Thank God. It's over." He screamed when he saw Adam's crystalized arm reach up and grab the railing he was hanging on and pull himself up. Not even thinking beyond 'get away', Jaune went over the other side. Physics then took over and Adam was shattered by the spinning blades he seemingly forgot about.**

"Okay, I stand abso-fucking-lutely corrected." Nora said, " _That_ is a hardcore way to go."

 **One of the crystals had enough velocity to break the chains holding Pyrrha's box up and it fell with a thud, one that Jaune softly matched when he landed next to it.**

" **Oh great." He said as he looked up and saw the flaming balloon drawing alarmingly closer. He quickly recovered and began to push the box down the hill and at least out of the way of the flaming ball of metal and death. Neptune, Nora, Sun and Ruby landed nearby and rushed to check on him.**

 **It was then that they heard a great rumbling. From the wreckage of the balloon, fissures began to spread outward in the earth.**

" **The volcano," Neptune said, horror dawning on his face. "She awakes!"**

" **Hey, I had nothing to do with it." Nora said, holding up a light stick of dynamite that she quickly doused.**

" **This here would be a good place to not be." Oz said from his fish, Glynda riding behind him with a camera in hand.**

Velvet gasped at the sight of it. "Coco, look at that thing! Talk about retro, right?"

Sun gave Coco a questioning look. Coco just shrugged. "She likes cameras."

"I gathered." Sun replied.

" **Agreed, but we have to get her back or the whole city will die." Jaune said, grabbing some chain and hooking it to the top of the box.**

" **And if we don't get out of here, we'll die." Ruby shot back, grabbing the other end of the chain and looping it around the tail of her and Sun's fish.**

" **It's the only way to reverse this. Just do it!" Jaune climbed onto the back of the fish just as sun began to drive off.**

 **However, nothing is ever simple.**

 **As they took off, the female end attached to the box snapped off. Seeing this, Jaune slid down the chains against Ruby's protests and ran to the box. The hook was still good, so he looped the chain around the top of the box, underneath the lip of the roof, and hooked it together.**

" **Go!" he yelled as he jumped on the side of the box. The fish took off, and Jaune was left with nothing to do but hang on for dear life as the box trailed behind as more and more fissure formed and erupted with molten rock.**

"And talking about absolutely stupid fucking ideas." Jaune nearly shouted in exasperation.

"I've noticed you've stopped scolding the students about their language, Glynda." Ozcar said.

"I give up at this point." She sighed. "They're basically adults at this point, who am I to judge their vocabulary? So long as they use it properly."

"I like to think we taught them better, as did their families before us."

 **The remainders of the fleet emerged from the tunnel mere seconds before the lava erupted out, taking the abandoned digger into the greater lava flow with it. They landed at the palace steps, a crowd waiting for them, and unhooked the box from the ship. Jaune immediately grabbed a spear from one of the guards and used it to pry open the box.**

" **The fissure is about to unleash its pyroclastic fury!" Neptune said, hopping in fearful excitement.**

" **Jaune, Mole says, the wall's gonna blow!" Sun translated.**

 **With one last burst of effort, Jaune managed to partially pry open a part of the box. This turned out to be enough as the box burst open, the pieces hanging in the air around Pyrrha. As they began to circle around her, the carvings on the entirety of the palace mount began to glow like the runes on the airships. These lights even stretched down into the Heart Chamber, where the stone faces too began to glow and rise up from the pool. They broke through the floor of the plaza and Pyrrha rose with them.**

 **The stone faces began to circle her in increasing speed until they were nothing more than a blur. Suddenly, a beam of energy shot from the Heart and struck a sunken ruin. A pair of blue orbs glowed beneath the water, and the ruin began to move, revealing a giant stone sentinel. More lights shot out and struck ruins, and even more sentinels rose from the depths. Some had been integrated into the city planning over the long centuries.**

"We saw these in the beginning as well." Weiss said.

"Yeah, they put up that barrier that saved the city." Ruby said.

"And doomed everyone not in it." Ren added. This earned his a slap on the arm by Nora.

 **As one, they strode to the edges of the city and stood at perfect intervals around the city. As one, they clapped their hands and spread them apart, and as they did, an energy barrier formed, one that blocked the fireballs that rained down on the outskirts of the city. The barrier formed into a dome with the Heart at the very peak right as the lava began to overflow and wash over the city. Sooner than was possible, it hardened into solid black rock. Soon after, cracks began to form that emitted soft blue light. They stretched down the entirety of the rock and it soon began to fall apart, as did the rock that held the water in the city. It broke away in between the sentinels and the water began to empty, cooling whatever lava was left and leaving a thick cloud of steam behind.**

 **As the steam began to clear, Jaune saw a beam of light behind him. Looking up, he saw Pyrrha descend from the clouds, no longer crystalized. He prepared to catch her if she fell, and waited until she had her feet on the ground and gravity had a hold of her before really touching her.**

 **She sighed when she felt the warmth against her and smiled a bit. Opening her eyes, she looked to see Jaune's face filled with concern.**

" **Jaune?" she asked, but stopped when she felt something in her hand. Opening it, he found it was the bracelet she had lost all those centuries ago, when her mother was taken. The dam burst and she cried into Jaune's shoulder. He hugged her back for as long as she needed. Soon enough, he noticed that the steam had cleared enough to allow a view of the city and his eyes widened. He pulled her away and directed her to what he saw and she smiled. The waters through out the city were draining, revealing ruins long thought lost to time. Jaune and Pyrrha smiled at each other as they watched it unfold. Without thinking, Pyrrha took his hand.**

 **A few days later, a large narwhal ship was being filled with gifts and treasure to take the remaining crew back home. Before they left, Pyrrha gave each of them crystal necklaces.**

" **Atlantis will honor your names forever." She said as she laid the necklace around Nora's neck. "I only wish there was more we can do for you."**

" **Oh, thanks anyway, but, I think we're good." Nora said, looking back at their reward.**

"That is one shiny-ass penny right there." Coco said, lowering her glasses.

"They just saved an entire race of people." Velvet said, "I think they've earned it."

"But how are they gonna get paid for it? People are gonna wonder where stuff like that came from."

"And those people will spend the rest of their lives trying to figure it out."

"As it probably should be." Blake commented.

" **They'll take you as far as the surface." Jaune told them.**

" **We're really gonna miss you, Jaune." Ruby said.**

" **You know, I'm gonna re-open the flower shop." Nora told him, "And I'm gonna think of you guys every day. Monday through Friday, 9-5. Saturdays until 2. Sundays, I'm probably gonna take Sunday off, but maybe I'll go in for a couple of hours, you know. But, uh, August. I'm gonna take August off."**

"Sounds like you." Ren teased his friend.

 **Next, it was Ozpin's turn. "I ain't so good at speechifying, but I wanted you to have this." He handed Jaune a greasy can full of… something. "It's the bacon grease from the whole trip."**

" **Oz, I-" but Ozpin cut him off before he could start crying. Then he felt someone jump on his back and plant a kiss on his cheek. He turned and saw Ruby get ready to take a shot.**

" **Ah-ah, two for flinching." She joked, giving him a couple light taps. "See ya, Jaune."**

" **Hey, Jauney-boy!" Neptune came up and offered him a big hug.**

" **Ah, Mole." Jaune hesitated when he saw the flies buzzing around the man and how dirty the man was. He settled for patting the man on the head, the least dirty place on him. "Goodbye, Mole."**

"Hey, Logan, would it be possible for me to have this entire movie erased from my mind?" Neptune whined, "Or at least the parts that involved me?"

" **You sure you wanna stay?" Sun asked. "There's a hero's welcome waiting for the man who discovered Atlantis."**

" **Ah I don't think the world needs another hero. Besides, I hear there's an opening down here for an expert in gibberish."**

" **You take care of yourself, Jaune Arc." Sun said, offering him his hand.**

" **You too, Sun." Jaune took the hand and was immediately pulled into a crushing bear hug. "Uh, Sun, before you go, could you, uh…" he pointed to his neck.**

" **No problem." Sun said as he turned the man around and cracked his neck the same way he had the night everything had gone to hell. "Oh, you'll be getting a bill for that one, by the way."**

" **Can we go home now?" Glynda asked.**

" **Sure, but first, let's get one last shot in front of the fish." Sun said, leading everyone to the pile of treasure and leaving the camera in the hands of an Atlantean.**

" **Say** _ **gohck!"**_

 **The resulting picture was way, way off, as was expected.**

 **The next thing they knew, they were in Oobleck's study. They were all wearing fine clothes, and even Neptune looked respectable.**

" **Let's go over it one more time." Oobleck said, "Just so we got it straight. You didn't find anything?"**

" **Nope," Nora said, a match still in her mouth like a toothpick, and new diamond stud earrings in her ears. "Just a lot of rocks and fish. Little fish. Sponges, mostly."**

 **Oobleck looked down at a picture of the fleet that saved Pyrrha, Jaune at the head of it.**

" **What happened to Sienna?" he asked.**

" **Well, we lost her when a flaming zeppelin come down on her." Ozpin said until Glynda jogged his memory with a whack from her umbrella. "Ahem. She's missing."**

" **That's right." Oobleck said, "What about Adam?"**

" **Nervous breakdown." Sun said. "You could say he 'went all to pieces.'" Nearby, Neptune was chaffing at his new clothes.**

" **In fact," Ozpin added, "You could say he was transmorgified and busted into a zillion- " Glynda raised her umbrella. "Ahem. He's missing too."**

" **What about Jaune?"**

" **Went down with the sub." Ruby answered. Of course, she, Sun and Oobleck had already been to see each of the Arc girls, and told them the truth about their brother, that he was safe and sound in a place where he was doing good work alongside someone who loved him and he loved back. Sure, they had mourned the fact they would likely never see him again, nor any of the potential nieces or nephews he would have given them, but they took solace in knowing the truth.**

 **Their debrief was interrupted when Neptune began burying himself in a potted plant nearby, his clothes discarded. He giggle-moaned to himself once he was comfortable.**

"Please, just scrub the memory of this me from my mind! I beg of you!"

" **Emma, give me strength." Sun said, facepalming as he petted Jaune's chocolate lab, who had taken quite a liking to Ruby since they had met.**

" **I'm gonna miss that boy." Oobleck sighed as he flipped to a photo of Pyrrha and Jaune standing next to each other, holding hands. "At least he's in a better place now." He flipped to the last page where he found a small package labeled**

 **To Oobleck**

 **From Jaune**

 **Opening it up, he found it was an Atlantean necklace wrapped in Jaune's family photo. On the photo was some writing.**

 _ **Dear Mr. Oobleck,**_

 _ **I hope this piece of proof is enough for you. It sure convinced me.**_

 _ **Thanks, for both of us.**_

 _ **-Jaune Arc**_

 **A year later, Jaune smiled as he put the final chisel into the project he and a team of craftsmen had been working on for the past months. He stepped back and turned to Pyrrha, now dressed in the garb of her new role as Queen of Atlantis. He himself was now dressed in formal attire that showed off the double crescent tattoo he bore on his left shoulder. With a mournful sigh, she stepped forward and touched her crystal to the massive stone than now bore her father's face.**

 **The carvings began to glow and the stone rose up from the now rebuilt plaza in front of the palace. As it rose, Pyrrha grabbed Jaune's arm like a teenager and together they raced to their special place at the highest point in Atlantis, trying to keep up with the stone face. They arrived just as it passed the tip of their spot and watched as it joined it's ancestors in orbit around the Heart of Atlantis, which now floated above the city for all to see.**

"So, Weiss, anything to say?" Ruby asked smugly.

Weiss rolled her eyes and smiled. "Definitely not what I was expecting, at least not from a cartoon."

"Good story." Blake agreed.

"Great soundtrack." Sun added.

"How about a quick break to restock before the next one?" Jaune proposed.

" _Take as long as you need. I need to take a break myself."_

* * *

 **Phew! Glad that's done. Don't get me wrong, I am so glad that I got to do this movie. It's one of my favorite Disney films. But the reactions are a whole other beast entirely. And some days are good for writing reactions, and some aren't, especially when you're feeling burnt out on something.**

 **That's why I'm going to be taking some time off from writing this story. Maybe put some more time into Wolves of Remnant or something. I don't really know much at this point, except that I will be returning to this.**


	69. Chapter 69 (Ha)

**Heh, chapter 69. Also, I'm back.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 69

"Does anyone else feel like we were out there for a _really_ long time?" Nora asked.

"Yeah, now that you mention it." Jaune said.

"Well, let's get back to the show, shall we?" Yang suggested.

"Old Wolf, hit it!" Nora commanded.

" _As the Queen of the Castle commands."_

The theater darkened as text appeared on the screen.

 **A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…**

 **STAR WARS**

"Yes!" Ruby cheered.

"Here's a sequel I've been looking forward to." Yang commented, taking a sip of her drink.

 **The Empire Strikes Back**

 **It is a dark time for the Rebellion. Although the Death Star has been destroyed, Imperial troops have driven the Rebel forces from their hidden base and pursued them across the galaxy.**

 **Evading the dreaded Imperial Starfleet, a group of freedom fighters led by Ruby Rose has established a new secret base on the remote ice world of Hoth.**

 **The evil lord Darth Vader, obsessed with finding young Rose, has dispatched thousands of remote probes into the far reaches of space…**

"Fortunately, Ruby is the protagonist this time." Blake said.

"Unfortunately, the BBEG is stalking me." Ruby countered.

"Dare I ask what a 'BBEG' is?" Weiss said.

"Big Bad Evil Guy."

 **The text retreated into the void, and the camera panned down to a Star Destroyer drifting through space. Beneath it, dozens of probes were launched from its hangar. The last of these probes directed itself to a world covered in ice. It survived re-entry and impacted the ground with enough force to send snow and dirt flying twenty feet in the air.**

 **Rising up from the crater was a robot of some kind, with two half-oval section, the top of which had several lenses and a pair of antennae, and a series of long spindly arms hanging beneath it. It slowly rose from the crater, and took in its surroundings. Seeing no immediate threats, it moved out with a soft repetitive humming sound.**

"Gee, that doesn't look sinister at all." Coco said sarcastically.

 **Not far off, a person on a strange bipedal beast rode across the tundra. They were dressed head to toe in heavy beige and white clothes, a pair of goggles over their face and had a strip of thick red cloth attached to their hat covering their mouth. The rider stopped at the top of a hill and looked around. Their outfit was covered in ice and snow, showing that they had been in the cold for quite a while.**

 **The rider took off the red cloth and goggles to reveal a somewhat older Ruby Rose. She looked around and saw the probe impact with the ground. Frowning slightly, she took out a pair of macrobinoculars and took a look. Bubkiss. Nothing but a debris cloud. Putting the macrobinoculars down, she dusted off the communicator on her glove.**

" **Echo 3 to Echo 7. Yang, can you hear me?" she said.**

" **Loud and clear, kid." The voice of Yang said back. "What's up?"**

" **Well, I finished my circle. I'm not picking up any life readings."**

" **There's not enough life on this ice ball to fill a space cruiser." Yang snarked back, making Ruby chuckle. "Sensors are in place. I'm headed back"**

" **Gotcha. I'll see you shortly. There's a meteorite that hit the ground near here. I'm gonna go check it out. Won't take long." Ruby closed the link and her mount began braying and bucking in place. "Whoa, easy girl. What's wrong? You smell something?"**

 **As if in response, Ruby turned and saw a giant white face roaring at her.**

"Okay, jump scares are a thing." Yang said with a chuckle.

"What the hell is that thing?" Pyrrha said.

"I don't know, but I bet it would make a hell of a rug." Nora said. "Kinda like in that one dream I told you about."

 **It took a swipe with a massive arm and knocked her from her mount- knocking her out at the same time- and then doing the same to her mount. It's attack successful, it grabbed Ruby and her mount by the ankles and dragged them through the snow back to it's lair.**

 **Meanwhile, another rider in beige pants and a heavy black coat with a fur-lined hood rode into a hangar flanked by a pair of white laser turrets. The hangar was lined with strange craft at the entrance with familiar star fighters in the back surrounding the beautiful sight of the** _ **Millennium Falcon**_ **. A pair of handlers came and took custody of the beast as the rider dismounted and took off the hood, revealing a rosy cheeked Yang Xiao Long who shook her wild blonde mane out and strode off towards the** _ **Falcon**_ **.**

" **Blake? Blake!" she called up to her cat-eared first mate, who was busy working on the Falcon, a soldering tool in one hand and a pair of goggles at her eyes in the other.**

" **Well look who decided to show up! You know how fucking long I've been waiting on your ass?" Blake yelled back, shaking the soldering tool at her captain.**

"Hoo! Angry kitty is angry." Yang commented.

"You do have a habit of making people wait on you." Blake said.

"Oh, come on, I do not. Name one time- "

"Your morning showers back at the dorm." Blake said.

"Okay, fair, but my hair- "

"Your post-combat class showers." Weiss added.

"Again, the hair- "

"Oh, finding us in Mistral." Ruby chipped in.

"I had just lost my arm!"

" **Hey, hey, easy! Don't lose your temper!" Yang said defensively. "I'll check in, come right back and help you out."**

" **Believe that when I see it." Blake muttered angrily as she returned to her work and Yang walked off for the command center.**

 **The command center was a large room deeper within the base- which itself was built within an ice shelf, turning it into a natural fortress. The walls were lined with metal plating and lights, while the ceiling was solid ice with more lights running across it. The interior was lined with workstations that showed complex readouts Yang had no idea how to read. Looking around, she saw Weiss look away from her back at the workstation she was overseeing. Huffing, Yang walked up to an older man in a dark jacket and gloves.**

" **Xiao Long." he said, acknowledging her presence.**

" **No signs of life out there, General." She reported. "Sensors are all in place, you'll know if anything comes knocking."**

" **Commander Rose report in yet?" he asked.**

"I like the sound of that." Ruby grinned.

"We are _not_ calling you that." Weiss said quickly.

"Party pooper."

" **No. She went to check out a meteorite that impacted near her."**

" **All the meteor activity in this system, it's gonna be hard to spot approaching ships."**

" **General, I gotta leave. I can't stay anymore." Yang said bluntly.**

" **I'm sorry to hear that." The general said genuinely.**

" **Well, there's a price on my head. Either I pay Roman Torchwick or I'm a dead woman."**

"I never figured you to have that kind of reputation, Roman." Cinder commented.

"Well, then you're an idiot." Roman commented. "I may play the part of the gentleman criminal, but any good criminal kingpin doesn't shy away from getting their hands dirty if they need to. I can't just let someone take a loan from me and not pay it back. Or I could, but let too many people do it without consequence and I look weak. And weakness means death in the underworld."

" **A death mark's not an easy thing to live with." The general agreed, offering Yang his hand. "You're a good fighter, Yang. I hate to lose you."**

" **Thank you, sir." Yang said, shaking the hand. Then, she walked over to Weiss. "Well, Your Highness, I guess this is it."**

 **Weiss nodded in agreement. "That's right."**

Jaune shuddered. "Wow, flashbacks of Beacon."

"I know, I know, I was an absolute hag to you back then." Weiss groaned. "I'm not exactly proud it myself."

"I mean, hag is _one_ word for it." Coco admitted. "Bitchy, on the other hand…"

 **Yang's face soured immediately. "Well, no need to get all mushy on me. So long, Princess." With that, she stormed off, her eyes flickering between red and lilac.**

" **Yang!" Weiss called after her, following her into a hallway.**

" **Yes, Your Highnessness?" Yang said sarcastically.**

" **I thought you had decided to stay."**

" **Well, the bounty hunter we met back on Ord Mantell kinda changed my mind."**

"Well, that confirms my time skip theory.' Blake thought.

" **Yang, we need you!" Weiss pleaded.**

" _ **We**_ **need?" Yang asked, "Well, what about** _ **you**_ **need?"**

" _ **I**_ **need? I don't know what you're talking about."**

" **You probably don't." and Yang walked off, a rather frustrated Weiss following after her.**

" **And what precisely am I supposed to know?" Weiss asked loudly, practically stomping after Yang.**

" **Come on! You want me to stay because of the way you feel about me."**

" **Yes! You're a great help to us. You're a natural leader."**

" **No! That's not it. Come on." As a worker walked between them, Yang saw Weiss' cheeks darken and pressed. "A-ha! Come on."**

"Oh, a love triangle in the works." Nora grinned.

"Admittedly it's not something you see very often." Blake nodded.

"Sup?" Yang said with a wink at Weiss.

"Hey, back off, Yang!" Ruby said, grabbing Weiss' arm, "I saw her first, in the movie and IRL."

" **You're imagining things." Weiss shot back, attempting to regain ground.**

" **Am I? then why are you following me? Afraid I was gonna leave without giving you a goodbye kiss?"**

" **I'd just as soon kiss a Faunus."**

" **I can arrange that." Yang stormed off back towards the hangar, yelling back her last word. "You could use a good kiss!"**

Blake gave Weiss a sidelong glance and grinned as her friend fumbled trying to defend herself.

"This is not your movie, Weiss." Pyrrha chuckled.

 **About half an hour later, Ren was walking through the halls of the fortress towards the hangar, Penny at his side as always.**

" **Don't try to blame me." Ren argued with his beeping counterpart. "I didn't ask you to turn on the thermal heater. I merely commented that it was freezing in the princess's chamber." Whistles from Penny. "But it's** _ **supposed**_ **to be freezing. How we're going to dry out her clothes, I really don't know." Whistling and raspberries. "Oh, switch off."**

 **They walked up to the** _ **Falcon**_ **, where Yang was busy arguing with Blake underneath the ship.**

" **Why'd you take this apart now?" she asked, "I'm trying to get us outta here and you pull both of these- "**

"In my defense, I know precisely beans about how to fix anything other than Gambol." Blake said.

"None of you do." Yang said, "Which is why I never let any of you so much as touch Bumblebee without me there."

"She took automotive repair as an elective back at Signal." Ruby said aloud. "Bumblebee was her final grade project."

"It was a year-long thing where we each built something from the sparkplugs up. Most kids made motorized bikes or scooters, but only one kid other than me made an actual, functional vehicle."

" **Excuse me, ma'am." Ren said as the two droids approached.**

" **Put 'em back together right now!" Yang ordered as she walked over to Ren. "What?"**

" **Well, it's Princess Weiss, ma'am. She's been trying to get you on the communicator."**

" **I turned it off. I don't wanna talk to her."**

" **Oh. Well, Princess Weiss is wondering about Mistress Ruby. She hasn't come back yet, and the Princess doesn't know where she is."**

 **Yang frowned slightly. "I don't know where she is." Ruby was a big girl, and Yang trusted her, especially after everything they had been through together since they had met on Tatooine two years ago.**

" **Nobody knows where she is." Ren told her, and Yang's frowned deepened.**

" **What do you mean 'nobody knows?'"**

" **Well, uh, you see- " but he was cut off as Yang moved past him, calling for the deck officer. He tried to speak, but was again cut off when Yang covered his voice grill as a soldier came up to them.**

" **Do you know where Commander Rose is?" she asked the man.**

" **I haven't seen her." the officer admitted. "It's possible she came in through the south entrance."**

" **It's possible? Well, why don't you go check? It's getting dark out there."**

"Seems some habits translate over even when there's no blood relation, huh?" Blake said, nudging Yang.

"Some things just come naturally." Yang said dramatically.

"Tell that to Pacific Rim Yang." Nora teased.

"Cheap shot."

" **Yes ma'am." The soldier nodded and ran off.**

" **Excuse me, ma'am," Ren asked, "But might I inquire what's going on?"**

" **Why not?" Yang said absent-mindedly, her thoughts clearly on the well-being of the girl she now thought of as a sister.**

" **Impossible woman." Ren shook his head. "Come along, P3, let's find Princess Weiss. between us, I think Mistress Ruby is in considerable danger."**

"No! Ya think?" Ruby said.

 **Yang walked into the tauntaun pens and saw a group of staff officers in the midst of a conversation.**

" **Ma'am, Commander Rose hasn't come in the south entrance." The deck officer reported. "It's possible he forgot to check in."**

" **Not likely." Yang said, "Are the speeders ready to go yet?"**

" **Not quite. We've had some trouble adapting them to the cold."**

" **Then we'll have to go out on tauntaun." Yang said and walked over to one of the beasts that still had a saddle on.**

" **Ma'am, the temperature's dropping too rapidly." The officer protested.**

" **Yeah, and my friend's out in it." she fired back as she climbed into the saddle.**

" **Your tauntaun'll freeze before you reach the first marker." He warned her one last time.**

" **Then I'll see you in hell. Hyah!" she snapped the reins and led her mount out of the hanger at a full gallop.**

'I might have to use that sometime." Yang thought to herself.

 **Ruby started as she heard an echoing roar. Her silver eyes slowly fluttered open as she finally regained consciousness. It took another second before her body caught up with her brain and she groaned. Her** _ **everything**_ **hurt, but the throbbing in her head was currently the biggest pain. Her being hung upside down by her ankles certainly didn't help.**

 **Quickly taking in her surroundings, she found that she was in an ice cave, and if the skeletons frozen into the floor and walls were any indication, it was the home of whatever had attacked her and her mount. This was immediately confirmed when she heard loud munching noises coming from in front of her. There, she saw the beast not even a hundred yards from her, loudly eating from the carcass of her mount. Seeing her eventual fate, she quickly took action, curling upwards to try and free her feet, but to no avail; they were frozen over and she didn't have the strength to free them.**

 **She returned to her hanging position and saw her lightsaber sitting in a pile of snow nearby. Calmly, she closed her eyes and remembered the lessons Taiyang had taught her in the brief time he had been her master. Calming her mind and body, she reached out with the Force, willing the weapon to come to her outstretched hand. It jiggled for an instance but did not move.**

"Use the Force, Ruby." Taiyang joked.

"Can't you see I'm trying?" Ruby replied.

 **The beast must have seen that she had woken up, for it stood and began to move toward her.**

 **The lightsaber shifted in the snow once, twice- and then shot into her hand. In one fluid motion, her hand grasped the handle and thumbed the activation button. The blue blade came to life and she swiftly used it to free herself from the ice, falling to the floor almost on her feet. Looking up, she saw the monster was nearly upon her. She quickly stood up and with a flick of her wrist, she sliced the beast's arm from its body. The beast howled in pain, giving Ruby the perfect chance to make her mad dash for freedom.**

"Looks like she picked up one of your tricks." Summer said.

"Like a knife through butter." Tai sighed. "I'm glad weapons like that don't exist."

"Well, the pipsqueak is certainly trying to rectify that." Qrow said, nodding to Ruby, who was once again taking design notes.

 **The good news was that the cave was very linear, just one long tunnel with one entrance. The bad news was that a snow storm had kicked up while she was out. The second she emerged from the cave, she was buffeted by icy winds and snow coming her at ridiculous speeds. She deactivated her lightsaber and clipped it to her belt seconds before tumbling down a hill, though she quickly picked herself up and put as much distance as she could between her and that monster's lair.**

 **Meanwhile, Yang continued her search for her missing friend, wandering aimlessly through the icy wastes on the back of her commandeered tauntaun. She had brought scanning equipment with her, and she would often stop to check it, but the longer she stayed outside, the worse the storm got, and thusly the less of a signal she would get.**

 **Back at the base, Penny was using her own built-in scanner to search for her missing master.**

" **Come along now, P3." Ren said as he walked up to her, "There's really nothing more we can do. And my joints are freezing up." Penny beeped something in response. "Don't say things like that! Of course we'll see Mistress Ruby again. And she'll be quite alright, you'll see!" he began muttering to himself as he walked off. Of course Mistress Ruby would be alright. She was the strongest human he had ever met.**

 **Ruby collapsed into the snow. She had been walking for hours. Normally, that wouldn't have been a problem, since growing up on a desert planet her entire life had built up her natural endurance. But she figured she could be forgiven seeing how she had been attacked but an ice monster, dragged to its lair and then nearly eaten by said monster. She willed herself back to her feet and managed to shakily walk another few feet, before she collapsed face-first back into the snow.**

"What do you think?" Qrow whispered to Winter.

"Of her chances?" Winter asked, matching his tone, "Not good. If the weather on this planet is anything like it is in Solitas, her chances aren't good. Even if they find her, there wouldn't be much we could do to save her."

"But we aren't them." He said. "We don't have their level of technology. It's possible they might have some kind of miracle treatment. Right?" Winter nodded, accepting his logic, hopeful as it was.

 **At the base, an officer ran up to his superior in the hangar bay.**

" **Sir, all the patrols are in. Still no- " he looked over to Weiss listening in, and quickly lowered his voice. "Still no word from Rose or Xiao Long."**

" **Mistress Weiss," Ren said as he walked up to her, "P3 says that she has been unable to pick up any signals, although she does admit that her own range is far too weak to abandon all hope."**

" **Princess," The Ranking officer said as he and his subordinate joined the white-haired girl and the green-plated droid, "There's nothing more we can do tonight. The shield doors** _ **must**_ **be closed."**

 **Weiss closed her eyes in defeat and nodded the unspoken order. The officer gave the order as Blake walked up, close to tears herself.**

"You can see how much it kills her to do it." Jaune whispered to Pyrrha.

"I know how she feels." She replied, squeezing his hand.

 **Penny beeped nearby. "P3 says the chances of survival are 725 to 1." Ren translated.**

"It's not as long as it could be." Penny said, trying to be optimisitc

 **The great metal doors groaned as they came together with a loud clang. Blake roared in grief as she fought to keep the tears in her.**

" **Of course, P3 has been known to make mistakes." Ren said in an attempt to be helpful, "From time to time."**

"I appreciate the effort, Ren." Weiss said with a small smile.

"Reassurance is not my forte." He admitted.

 **Weiss nodded as she walked up to Blake and pulled her into a hug. Ren walked up next to Penny and placed a hand on her dome. "Don't worry about Mistress Ruby. I'm sure she'll be alright. She's quite clever, you know, for a human being."**

 **In the tundra, Ruby lay where she had fallen, giving up on getting back to base, much less surviving for much longer out here. That was, until her heard a voice call out to her.**

" **Ruby." It said to her. "Ruby." She felt like she remembered it from somewhere, making her raise her head up. At the crest of a nearby hill, she saw his spectral form, clad in his robes and with the hood drawn up onto his head.**

"Okay, ghosts are a thing." Ruby said, "I am oddly okay with this."

"So am I, if it means I'm staying relevant." Taiyang agreed.

" **Ben?" she said confused. Taiyang was supposed to be dead.**

" **You will go to the Dagobah system." He told her.**

" **Dagobah system?"**

" **There you will learn from Ozma, the Jedi Master who instructed me."**

" **Ben! Ruby croaked out, reaching out for his hand, but his form disappeared as she once again lost consciousness. By a stroke of luck, she was fund by Yang to ten seconds later.**

" **Ruby!" Yang cried out as she dismounted and tried to run for her friend. The snow was deep, so she was clumsy at best, but she quickly made it and flipped Ruby over. "Don't do this, Ruby. Come on, gimme a sign here." She went to check Ruby's pulse when she heard a pained braying behind her and turned just in time to see her mount collapse into the snow and let out a death rattle. Cursing to herself, Yang grabbed Ruby's wrists and pulled the girl over to the still warm corpse of her mount. Wasting no time and ignoring Ruby's delirious mutterings, Yang used the lightsaber to cut open the beast's belly.**

" **Sorry, Rubes." Yang said as she pushing the girl into the opening, "This isn't gonna smell great, but it'll keep you warm until I get the shelter up." With her friend safely inside the belly of the beast, Yang took time for a quick breather. "Damn. And I here thought they smelled bad on the outside."**

"YANG! That's so gross!" Ruby wailed.

"A weak term, in my opinion." Winter commented, "But an action that will likely save her life. If Ms. Xiao Long- "

" _Captain_ Xiao Long!"

"Can get the shelter up quickly, the residual body warmth will keep her core temperature up for a while longer. Smart thinking."

XX

 **Welp, I'm back, and just in time for Star Wars Day! A lot of you guys wanted this to be next, so I figured why not?**

 **I really needed that sabbatical. Didn't get as much writing done as I would have liked, but I definitely needed the rest and lack of stress that comes with impending deadlines. I also figured out that the really hard part about this is the reactions. My joke jar is running on empty, and sometimes I feel like jokes are what's expected of me.**

 **Ah well.**

 **In video game news, I am super pumped for the holiday season. WoW: Shadowlands or AC: Valhalla. I don't know which one to dedicate my free time to. Luckily, I have 7 months to figure that out.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite, and leave a Review, and be safe out there.**

 **Next Update: 5/12/20**


	70. Chapter 70- Empire Strikes Back, Part 2

**It actually feels really good to be back.**

 **Glad to see so many of you liked my comeback choice.**

 **I got nothing else to say, so let's jump in.**

 **MCU tracker: 1,449/2,000**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 70

 **By the next morning, the storm had cleared, leaving rolling hills of fresh snow in its wake. The beauty of it all was quickly ruined by a squadron of four snow speeders cresting one of the hills before breaking off from each other in search of Ruby and Yang.**

"So is this what Solitas looks like after a snowstorm?" Ruby asked.

Weiss shrugged. "More or less. Less barren, obviously."

" **Echo Base, I've got something." One of the pilots said over the radio, "Not much, but it could be a lifeform." He followed the signal further from the base, keeping his eyes and his ears open for any sign of life. "Commander Rose, do you copy? This is Rogue Two. Repeat, this is Rogue Two. Captain Xiao Long, do you copy?" he crested another hill before trying his broadcast again.**

" **Good morning. Nice of you guys to drop by." Yang said over the radio, making the pilot smile at her sarcasm.**

" **Echo Base, this is Rogue Two. I found them. Repeat, I found them." He said. Yang waved as his speeder buzzed the shelter she had managed to erect.**

"Made a shelter and it looks like you even managed to make some kind of radio device." Winter observed. "Top marks, Ms. Xiao Long."

"Thank you. And it's _Captain_ Xiao Long, thank you very much."

"I refuse to call you that."

"Alright. Just remember that you started this."

 **Ruby was quickly returned to base where she was rushed to emergency treatment for her injuries and a case of hypothermia. Instead of any kind of surgery, she was loaded into a fluid tank for several hours, the contents of which greatly accelerated her healing. She was woken a day later, the only signs of her trouble being a few scars on her cheek and the sunken state of her eyes, though the doctor said she simply needed some rest and a decent meal to fix the latter.**

"Amazing." Ozcar said.

"It's like a liquid Aura." Glynda agreed.

'This is definitely something worth looking into.' Winter thought, making a small note on her scroll.

" **Mistress Ruby, it's so good to see you fully functioning again." Ren said happily when he, Penny, Weiss, Yang and Blake came to see her in recovery.**

 **Ruby smiled weakly. "Thanks Ren."**

 **Penny beeped and squealed happily. "P3 expresses her relief also."**

" **How ya feelin', kid?" Yang asked as she entered the room. "You don't look so bad to me. Hell, you look like you could pull the ears off a gundark."**

" **Thanks to you."**

"The hell's a gundark?" Nora wondered aloud.

" _A large and particularly foul-tempered beast."_

'Sounds a bit like Hazel when someone mentions Ozpin.' Salem mused with a grin.

" **That's two you owe me, Red." She joked before turning to face Weiss. "Well, Your Worship, looks like you managed to keep me around for a while longer."**

" **I had nothing to do with it." Weiss insisted. "General Rieekan thinks it's dangerous for any ships to leave the system until we've activated the energy field."**

" **That's a good story." Yang conceded. "I think you just couldn't stand to let a beautiful gal like me out of your sight." Behind her, Ruby and Blake rolled their eyes simultaneously.**

 **Weiss shook her head in exasperation, but didn't break eye contact. "I don't know where you get your delusions, Laser Brain."**

 **Behind her, Blake failed to suppress a snicker at Yang's expense.**

" **Laugh it up, fuzzball." She said quietly, shooting a glare at Blake before walking over to Weiss, "But you didn't see us alone in the south passage, where she expressed her true feelings for me."**

"I did no such thing." Weiss protested.

"Denial is the first step on the road to acceptance, Weiss." Yang teased.

" **My- " Weiss looked up at her and Yang immediately backed off. "Why you stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder!"**

" **Who's scruffy looking?" Yang retorted, "Must have hit pretty close to the mark to get her that riled up, eh, Rubes?"**

 **Weiss grinned viciously. "Well, I guess you don't know everything about women yet, do you?" she walked up to Ruby, grabbed her cheeks and pulled her into a kiss that was between chaste and deep. She heard her name called for over the intercom, and left with a victorious smile. Ruby blinked a couple times to see if that had just happened before leaning back, her hands behind her head and a pleased smile on her face.**

 **Yang clicked her tongue, trying to keep her temper in check. "Take it easy." She told Ruby before she left with Blake in tow.**

"I'll take that win." Ruby grinned, wrapping an arm around Weiss' shoulder.

"Enjoy it while you can, Short-stack." Yang grumbled, grabbing her soda and slurping loudly.

 **Weiss arrived at the command center to find several officers huddling around a single work station.**

" **Princess, we have a visitor." The General told her as Yang entered behind her. "Picked up something outside the base's perimeter moving east."**

" **It's metal." The operator added.**

" **Then it couldn't be one of those creatures." Weiss reasoned.**

" **Could be a speeder, one of ours." Yang suggested.**

" **No- wait." The operator said, pressing his earpiece into his ear so he could hear better. "There's something very weak coming through." He flipped a switch on his console so that everyone else could hear it too. There was a lot of static, but they could still make out some kind of speech pattern in it.**

" **Ma'am," Ren said, getting their attention, "I am fluent in six million forms of communication. This signal is not used by the Alliance. It could be an Imperial code."**

 **The operator managed to clear up the static so that the signal was coming through clearly.**

 **Yang frowned. "Well, whatever it is, it doesn't sound friendly. Blake, let's go check it out."**

" **Send Rogues 10 and 11 to station 38." The General ordered as the two left.**

 **Outside, it was revealed that the source of the code was the droid that had landed a few days previously. Its message sent, it retracted its' antennae and floated off.**

"Busted." Sienna commented. "They need to start packing up right the fuck now."

"Speaking from experience, Ms. Khan?" Winter said coldly.

"Yes, I am. And please, just call me Sienna. I've no quarrel with you, only your father and his cronies."

"You'll forgive me if I borrow a phrase from the drunkard and 'call bullshit on that.'"

Sienna shrugged. "Believe what you want."

 **About half an hour later, Yang rose from her hiding place and got a good look at the droid as it passed between a pair of rocky outcrops. Blake rose from her own hiding place, her hair covered in snow, and yelled at the droid. It let out an alarm and began firing at Blake, or rather her position, since Blake had ducked back down. Yang took her chance and fired at the droid with her blaster pistol. She landed one hit before ducking back into cover. She heard a pair of blaster bolts fire over her head, jumped back up, landed another hit when suddenly the droid exploded.**

 **Blake rose from her hiding place when heard the explosion. "What? Was that it?" she said. Yang could only frown.**

"This you is much more outspoken and fighty." Yang commented, "I like it."

"Don't get your hopes up." Blake said, rolling her eyes.

" **Afraid there's not much left." Yang said as she reported in to command.**

" **What was it?" Weiss asked.**

" **Droid of some kind." Yang answered, professional enough to put aside what had happened earlier with Ruby. "I didn't hit it that hard, it must have had a self-destruct."**

 **Weiss didn't even argue, since the bits of information they had fit perfectly in her head. "An Imperial probe droid." She said.**

" **Shit. It's a good bet the Empire knows we're here, then."**

" **We'd better start the evacuation." The General decided, Weiss nodding her agreement.**

"They're in trouble if they're only starting now." Sienna commented. "The White Fang was always ready to move at a moment's notice when I was in charge. Especially the Atlas cells."

'Explains why we very rarely ever caught them.' Winter thought.

 **In the void, a fleet of Star Destroyers hung in a loose formation, TIE fighters flying patrols among them. They were all of them cast in shadow by the absolute behemoth that was their flagship, and the personal ship of Darth Vader herself. Said Dark Lady was currently standing on the bridge, observing the fleet and waiting for any scrap of information to come their way as to the location of her young target.**

 **A pair of officers walked onto the bridge and one, an admiral, was immediately called down.**

" **Yes, Captain?" he asked the dark-skinned young woman before him.**

" **I think we've got something, sir." Ilia reported. "The report is a fragment from a probe droid in the Hoth system, but it's the best lead we've had."**

 **The admiral looked unimpressed. "We have thousands of probe droids searching the galaxy. I want proof, not leads."**

"A lead is still better than nothing." Winter said.

"It's more information than you knew an hour ago." Glynda agreed.

"I'm just glad young Ilia is in a movie without looking aged up." Sienna grinned.

"Even if she's one of the bad guys?" Kali asked.

"That remains to be seen."

" **The visuals indicate life readings." Ilia told him.**

" **It could mean anything." The admiral said dismissively, "If we followed up on every lead- "**

" **But, sir, the Hoth system is supposed to be devoid of civilized life." Ilia protested.**

" **You've found something?" Vader said, startling the officers with how someone so large could be so stealthy.**

" **Yes, my lady." Ilia said, showing her the report. It was an image of a series of half-circular objects jetting out from the snow and giving off strange heat and energy signatures.**

" **That's it." Vader said. "The rebels are there."**

 **The admiral was still unconvinced. "My lady," he said diplomatically, "There are so many uncharted settlements. It could be smugglers, it could be- "**

" **That is the system." Vader shut him down, "And I'm sure Rose is with them. Set your course for the Hoth system. General Veers," she turned to a man in a matching uniform in dark green, "Prepare your men." Vader walked off with General Veers close behind. The admiral made to follow, but not without giving Ilia a hard glare first, which she easily shook off.**

"See? She may not be a good guy, she may not even be a bad guy, but what she _is_ is competent." Sienna said proudly. "That trumps everything in my book."

"So was Adam, and look what happened to him." Blake countered.

"Adam was unstable, a condition only made worse by constant fighting and loss. Had I been made aware of it, maybe I could have helped him."

 **Back at the base, Yang and Blake were continuing their repairs to the** _ **Falcon.**_ **This time, Yang was on the ship with a soldering tool, while Blake was in the cockpit.**

" **Alright." Yang called to her first mate as she finished working, "Give it a try." Blake flipped a few switches only resulting in a small explosion and the ship to catch fire in Yang's face. The blonde yelled at her to turn the ship off and Blake howled in frustration.**

 **Meanwhile, a fully healed Ruby was getting into her orange flight suit and talking to one of the droids that had taken care of her in the bacta tank.**

" **Ma'am, it will take some time to evacuate the T-47s." the droid told her.**

" **Ah, skip the heavy equipment." She told it, "There's plenty of time to get the smaller modules on the transports."**

" **Take care, Ma'am."**

" **Thanks.**

 **Ruby passed by the** _ **Falcon**_ **on her way to the speeders, now in full gear and her helmet under one arm.**

" **Hey, Blake?" she said to the much taller girl, who looked down at her. "Take care of yourself, ok?" she reached up and scratched the cat girls' head between her ears. She made to leave but was pulled into a hug by Blake.**

" **You forgot the customary hug, Short stack." Blake joked.**

" **Sorry, sorry." She chuckled.**

'I wonder…' Yang thought before she slowly reached up to scratch Blake between her ears.

"Do it and die, Yang."

Yang flinched. "Busted."

"You're not exactly the subtle one, rememb-" Blake froze as she felt someone scratching behind one of her ears, that someone being Weiss.

"Hmm. Soft and fuzzy." She commented. "Curiosity satisfied."

" **Hey kid." Yang said before turning back to a droid who was helping with the ship. "There's gotta be some reason for it. Check it at the other end." The droid squeaked an affirmative. "Wait a second." The droid squeaked again in frustration. "You alright?"**

 **Ruby saw the genuine concern in Yang's eyes. "Yeah." She replied honestly. They stared at each other in a silent conversation for a moment before Yang broke the silence.**

" **Be careful." She said.**

 **Ruby grinned. "You too."**

" **General, there's a fleet of Star Destroyers coming out of hyperspace in sector four." An operator in the control room called out.**

" **Reroute all power to the energy shield." He told the man before turning to his second in command. "We gotta hold them until all transports are away. Prepare for ground assault."**

"Called it." Sienna muttered.

"Alright, we've seen space combat, so let's see what a ground battle looks like in this universe." Jaune said, sitting up straight.

"Any guesses who's gonna win?" Pyrrha asked.

"I hate to say it, but my bet is on the Empire." Jaune grimaced, "Rebellions typically work best using guerilla tactics to force the other side to overextend."

"Historically, this is true." Velvet commented.

"But this isn't a guerilla battle. This is looking like a classic pitched battle, something that Rebellions do not have a good track record with."

"Unless they have professional forces or leaders who know how to outmaneuver professional armies."

"Exactly. From what I can see, the Rebels have neither. They're screwed."

 **Nearly a dozen Star Destroyers closed in on Hoth, with their massive flagship in the lead. Within, Vader sat cross-legged in a meditation pod, which opened when she felt someone entering her chambers, revealed to be General Veers.**

" **What is it, General?" she asked, somewhat miffed at being disturbed.**

" **My lady, the fleet has moved out of lightspeed. ComScan has detected an energy field protecting an area of the sixth planet of the Hoth system. It is strong enough to withstand any bombardment."**

" **The Rebels are alerted to our presence." Vader realized. She could feel her anger growing. "Admiral Ozzel came out of light speed too close to the system."**

 **The General hesitated for a moment. "He- he felt surprise was wiser."**

" **He is as clumsy as he is stupid." Vader said, her anger showing only briefly before she reined it in. Veers was not the object of her ire. No need to take it out on him. "General, prepare your troops for a surface attack."**

" **Yes my lady." He replied, relieved that he was leaving with his life. He had heard stories about how Vader treated failures under her command.**

 **The chair Vader sat in turned around in place to face the video screen behind her meditation pod and contacted the bridge of her ship. The screen filled with static until the faces of Admiral Ozzel and Ilia appeared.**

" **Lady Vader." Ozzel said, stepping up to make his report. "The fleet has moved out of light speed, and we're preparing to- " he immediately cut off when he felt his windpipe being crushed.**

" **You have failed me for the** _ **last time**_ **, Admiral." Vader said through grit teeth. She kept up her hold on the man's throat, slowly increasing the pressure. "Captain Amitola."**

" **Yes, my lady?" Ilia said, snapping to attention next to her dying superior.**

" **Make ready to land our troops beyond their energy field, and deploy the fleet so that nothing gets off the system. You are in command now,** _ **Admiral**_ **Amitola." The last was said as Ozzel collapsed behind Ilia, dead by Force Choke.**

" **Thank you, Lady Vader." She said, trying her best to maintain composure.**

Sun let out a long sigh before descending into hysterical chuckles.

"Well, that's one way of dealing with incompetent commanders." Sienna commented.

"I want to argue, but I can kind of see what you mean." Winter strained to say. "And that bothers me."

"What say you, Admiral?" Sun teased Ilia.

"That's not a nickname that's going away, is it?" Ilia sighed.

"Nope."

"I think it suits her." Blake commented. And just like that, Ilia loved the title.

 **As the base was readying for the assault, Weiss was briefing a group of pilots on the evacuation plan. She paced in the crook of an X-Wing's wing with the pilots gathered around her in a growing semi-circle.**

" **All troop carriers will assemble at the north entrance." She told them, "The heavy transport ships will leave as soon as they're loaded. Only two fighter escorts per ship. The energy field can only be opened for a short period, so you'll have to stick close to your transports."**

" **Two fighters against a Star Destroyer?" one of the pilots asked in disbelief.**

 **Weiss took the interruption in stride, knowing that would be their reaction. "The ion cannon will fire several shots to ensure any enemy ships will be out of your path." She assured them, seeing the doubt lift from their faces somewhat. "Once you've gotten past the energy shield, proceed straight to the rendezvous point. Understood?" Affirmatives sounded off around her. "Good luck."**

"I don't think I've ever mentioned this, but I always planned on making you the public affairs person of Team RWBY when we went pro." Ruby leaned in and told Weiss.

"A wise choice, leader." Weiss said, leaning in. she looked back to her other teammates. "I get that Blake is the scout and infiltrator, but what would Yang be?"

Ruby shrugged. "Sex appeal?"

"Makes sense, I guess."

 **A nearby NCO clapped his hands together. "Ok. Everybody, to your stations. Let's go!"**

 **About a mile outside the base, the ground forces were putting what finishing touches they could on their make-shift fortifications, which mostly consisted of trenches in the snow with scattered heavy weapon emplacements and the odd artillery piece up and down the line. Against any force like them, they would stand a good chance, but they weren't dealing with an equivalent force. They were dealing with the Empire, a vastly superior force in all respects. They knew the best they could do was delay for as long as possible.**

 **No one wanted to say it, but they had signed up for a suicide mission.**

 **XX**

 **Before you guys say anything, me making Ilia Captain Piett is a compliment since Piett is my hands down favorite side character in the whole series.**

 **Not a whole lot more to say…**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite, and leave a Review, and stay safe out there.**

 **Next Update: 5/19/20**


	71. Chapter 71- Empire Strikes Back, Part 3

**Welcome back folks. Hope you're all staying safe while the world burns around us.**

 **MCU Tracker: 1,469/2,000**

 **Gotta step it up if you wanna see it happen, guys.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 71

"So, are we not going to address that Weiss just made out with my sister?" Yang said.

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Yang, even Jaune can see that that was a power play by Weiss."

"I can- I mean, of course. Obviously." He looked at Pyrrha pleadingly for an explanation.

 **The situation in the command center was tense. Everyone remained silent, all eyes on the General and Weiss stood in the center of the room.**

" **Their primary target will be the power generators." The General said, "Prepare to open shield."**

 **A larger space cruiser shot up from the planet, escorted by a pair of X-Wings as per the plan, while a Star Destroyer moved into intercept position.**

"Whatever this ion cannon does, it had better be good." Jaune muttered.

Salem sat back, amused by the Rebels attempt at running the blockade. It reminder her of simpler, happier times.

" **Sir, rebel ships are coming into our sector." A junior officer on the ship told his captain.**

" **Good. Our first catch of the day." The captain replied firmly.**

" **Stand by, ion control." The operator sat before Leia and the General said before pausing. "Fire."**

 **Outside the base, a massive round structure built into the side of the ice shelf fired several red bolts from the cannon sticking out of it. The bolts rocketed past the transport convoy directly at the Star Destroyer. The first bolt hit them amidships, while the second impacted on the bridge. The Star Destroyer began to list downward at the back as its engines died out, red electricity crackling over its surface as the convoy breezed past them.**

"Okay, now the plan makes sense." Jaune said. "That ion cannon thing can disable the enemy ships, letting them make a run for it."

"And if the Imperials want to avoid having their ships disabled, they have to break their blockade formation." Winter added. "Huh, clever thinking."

"Insurgent thinking." Sienna said. "For all they may look like an army, this Rebellion is as insurgent as the White Fang."

"Hmm, clever." Salem admitted. "We didn't have need for such things back then, only good generals and strength of numbers."

" _ **The first transport is away."**_ **A voice said over the intercom, filling the hangar bay with cheers.**

 **Ruby cheered internally as she climbed into her speeder. So far so good. Just a few more times and they would be golden.**

" **Feeling alright, ma'am?" her silver-haired co-plot asked as she took the seat behind him.**

" **Just like new, Merc." Ruby said, "How about you?"**

" **Heh. Right now I feel like I could take on the whole Empire myself."**

" **I know what you mean." Ruby chuckled as the ship began to hover and the canopy closed.**

"Might want to lose the confidence, Mr. Black." Winter advised, "It might get you killed one day."

Mercury shrugged. "Eh, when it happens, it happens, as far as I'm concerned."

 **Out on the line, the soldiers ran to position with their weapons trained on the loud stomping sounds they heard in the distance. An officer looked into his macrobinoculars only to see a squat metal foot. he followed up the long metal pillar attached to it to meet a rectangular face with cannons on either side. Zooming back somewhat, he saw that it had a few friends with it.**

"What?" Jaune said. "What the fuck are those?"

"They're bigger than Goliaths." Ruby marveled.

"They're dumb! Look at those legs, they're such a huge target! The rest looks fine, but those legs are just- ugh!"

Pyrrha firmly gripped his shoulder. "Jaune, it's just a movie."

" **Echo Station, 3-T-8." He said into his communicator, "We've spotted Imperial walkers. Repeat, Imperial walkers on the north ridge."**

 **As the speeders exited the hangar as quickly as safely possible, the men and women in the trenches took cover as the walkers began firing on their positions. As they began returning fire, they felt the speeders fly overhead, Ruby at their head.**

" **All right, boys, keep it tight now." Ruby said.**

" **Ruby, I have no approach vector." Mercury said angrily as he quickly tried to correct his aim, "I'm not set."**

" **Easy, Merc. Set up for Attack Pattern Delta." She led the speeders past the walkers and swung around to the right. "All right, we're going in." She dived at the walker high from the side and flew between its legs, blasters firing the whole time.**

"I'm still hung up on how I'm trusting the guy who framed my sister to be my gunner." Ruby groused.

"Imagine how I feel being one of the good guys." Mercury agreed. "And in my defense, that was Cinder's idea."

 **The walkers marched on, ignoring the fire they were taking from the speeders. The men in the trenches tried to return fire, but it was difficult with the amount of fire they were taking from the walkers. The damn things were essentially mobile, fully-automatic artillery. From the bridge of the lead walker, General Veers watched the battle unfold.**

" **That armor's too strong for blasters." Ruby cursed after another failed fire run. She decided it was time to get creative. "Rogue Group, use your harpoons and tow cables. Go for the legs, it might be the only way we can stop 'em." She threw her speeder to the deck and lined herself up to enact her plan. "Mercury, stand by."**

"See? Those spindly legs are a liability!" Jaune said.

In this situation, yes." Winter agreed, "But what if they were to cross a body of water?"

"In that circumstance, you have a point. But they aren't, so my point still stands."

" **Shit! Ruby, we've got a problem in fire control. Break off while I cut in the auxilliary."**

" **Too late! Get that tow cable ready." No sooner had she said so did the speeder get rocked by a blaster bolt going off near them and Ruby heard a small explosion behind her. "Merc? Mercury!" she received no answer. Mercury was dead. Her face darkened in anger.**

"And that makes three." Mercury said casually. "I think this one might like this one best. Blaze of glory and all that."

"Better than being eaten alive by a dinosaur or the most terrifying bugs ever imagined." Emerald agreed reluctantly.

 **On the ground, the walkers continued their advance while increasing their suppressing fire on the trenches. They had taken out many static artillery pieces and were nearly halfway to the base when Vader contacted them.**

" **Yes, Lady Vader." General Veers said confidently. "I've reached the main power generators. The shield will be down in moments, you may start your landing."**

 **Meanwhile, Ruby was setting up for another run on her plan. She looked over her left wing and saw a familiar face.**

" **Rogue Three." She called out.**

" **Copy, Rogue Leader." Jaune said.**

" **Jaune, I've lost my gunner. You'll have to make the shot. I'll cover you. Set your harpoon and follow me on the next pass." Taking the lead, Ruby lead Jaune on the same approach she had taken, keeping low to the ground and coming up under the walker.**

" **Fire!" Ruby called out.**

 **The magnetic harpoon shot out from the speeder's rear gun and attached to one of the walker's back legs.**

" **Good shot, Nikos!" Jaune said as he brought the speeder into a hard turn. He circled the walker a few times, letting out more and more cable each time.**

" **Cable out, let her go!" Pyrrha the Gunner shouted behind him.**

" **Cable detached." Jaune confirmed.**

 **The walker tried to take another step but got caught up in the seven rings of high-strength cable wrapped around it. it physically tripped and fell forward onto it's face like a trapped animal. The rebels cheered as a pair of speeders flew at the incapacitated walker and blew up the head, which caused the whole thing to explode.**

" **Ho-ah!" Jaune cheered, giving Pyrrha a fist-bump over his shoulder. "Splash one for Arkos!"**

" **Nice work, Jaune." Ruby agreed.**

Jaune turned around in his seat, resting his head on his arms on the back of his chair and looked up at Winter a shit-eating grin. "You were saying, Specialist?"

"I'm not going to dignify that with a response." Winter said snootily.

"Kinda just did." Weiss muttered, making Ruby giggle.

 **In the command center, the General and Weiss were in the middle of a debate.**

" **I don't think we can protect two transports at a time." The General argued.**

" **It's risky," Weiss agreed, "But we can't hold out much longer." An explosion rocked the base, making ice fall from the ceiling of the room. "We have no choice."**

"You really don't, dude." Yang said, "Just call it."

 **The General nodded grimly. "Do it."**

" **Evacuate remaining ground staff." Weiss ordered.**

 **Meanwhile, Yang and Blake were still working on the** _ **Falcon**_ **.**

" **Dammit all! Yang!" Blake called out.**

" **I told you!" Yang said, walking over to where Blake was working. "** _ **This**_ **one goes there.** _ **That**_ **one goes** _ **there.**_ **Right?"**

" **Fucking stupid- "**

" **Beat yourself up later. Focus!"**

"Battle raging outside, and you're worried about your ride." Weiss commented.

"That's Yang for you." Blake added.

"Mock me all you want. I'm trying to save _your_ asses." Yang pointed at Blake and Weiss.

 **Ren walked up alongside Ruby's X-Wing as Penny was being loaded into it.**

" **P3, you take good care of Mistress Ruby now, understand?" he said. "And, try to take care of yourself too."**

 **Back at the front, the walkers continued their advance. However, they continued to concentrate their fire on the artillery pieces, destroying them one at a time and taking their time in doing so.**

" **All troops will debark for ground assault." General Veers told one of the soldiers he was carrying, before turning back to the battle. "Prepare to target the main generator."**

 **Ruby brought her speeder alongside another in preparation for another pass.**

" **Rogue Two, are you alright?" she called.**

" **Yeah." Replied the pilot who had found her and Yang. "I'm with you Rogue Leader."**

" **Set your harpoon. I'll cover for you." Ruby ordered, taking the lead position in the formation.**

" **Coming around." Rogue Two said as they made their approach.**

" **Watch that crossfire, guys." She could see the Walkers growing larger when she heard Rogue Two scream over the radio as his speeder exploded next to her. Her own speeder soon rocked as she too was hit with a glancing blow. She tried to pull up, but found that she has lost most of her control. Knowing that the only ending was a crash landing, she fought with the controls to make it one she could walk away from. She managed to land her speeder face first in the snow behind the lead walker.**

"What's the move now, fellow leader?" Jaune asked.

Ruby shrugged. "Improvise."

"That's what most of our plans turn into, thinking back on it." Yang frowned.

 **She let out a sigh as she shook her head clear, unhooked her harness and struggled to get the canopy up, but in doing so, she saw the other walker was on a direct course for her ship. She tried to get Mercury out, but his buckle had fused together, making it impossible to undo. The walker came closer, the massive legs covering the ground quicker than she expected. Thinking desperately more so than quickly, she grabbed her lightsaber and a strange gun before she leapt from the wreckage of her speeder as the walker's foot came down on it, crushing it and Mercury beneath it's tread.**

 **Back at the base, Yang ran through the corridors to the command center, doing her best to stay upright as the base was rocked by Imperial fire. The command center was an abandoned mess; strategic maps overturned and the staff evacuated but for a single station and operator, over whose shoulder Weiss was watching.**

" **You alright?" Yang asked.**

 **Weiss looked back and frowned. "Why are you still here?"**

" **Heard the command center had been hit." Yang replied as she began climbing over debris to reach Weiss, who had returned to what she had been doing.**

" **You've got your clearance to leave."**

" **Don't worry, I'll leave. First, I'm gonna get you to your ship."**

" **Your Highness, we must take this last transport. It's our only hope." Ren pleaded with her. Weiss responded by pushing past him and Yang and walking over to another station.**

" **Send all troops in Sector 12 to the south slope to protect the fighters." She said.**

 **Suddenly another explosion sent snow falling from the ceiling and a voice came over the intercom.**

" _ **Imperial troops have entered the base. Imperial troops have entered- "**_ **it cut off before it could finish.**

 **Yang walked up to Weiss and grabbed her arm. "Come on. That's it." she said, giving Weiss a hard look. The white-haired princess closed her eyes.**

" **Give the evacuation code signal." She ordered before Yang began pulling her away. "And get to your transport!"**

"Running away is always a viable option." Qrow commented. "It may not be brave, or honorable, but living to continue the fight is preferable to staying and getting hurt or _dead_." The last he said with a pointed look at Summer, who whistled innocently and didn't meet his eyes.

 **The battlefield, despite being made of snow and ice, was charred and burning in places, most of them ruined artillery pieces. The troops had received the retreat signal and were doing just that, abandoning their trenches as the walkers came within spitting distance. The walkers, seeing the rout, fired on the fleeing troops. Using the confusion as cover, Ruby ran up underneath the last walker and aimed her gun at the transport's belly.**

"What is Little Red up to?" Torchwick muttered.

"Something crazy, probably." Neo signed.

"Neo, crazy is the default setting for that entire team."

"Okay, crazy and stupid."

 **Instead of a laser bolt, it fired a magnetic grappling hook. It attached itself to the hull and pulled her up to hang just under the surface.**

 **Using her lightsaber, she opened a hatch a hatch and tossed in a small thermal grenade. She had five seconds until it exploded, so she quickly detached herself from the grappling hook and fell, the snow thankfully breaking her fall. She looked up and saw the walker stop as her grenade caused a cascade of explosions to rock the transport, ultimately causing the cockpit to explode and the whole thing to fall sideways.**

"Okay, that was clever." Torchwick commented.

 **The lead walker saw none of this, its commander focused entirely on his objective. He watched as the fleeing troops were cut down like wheat, the transport even shooting a speeder out of the air during a brief pause it it's advance. He pulled down a targeting computer and looked through it to see the highlighted outline of the generators. He gave the order and the generators exploded in a massive ball of fire.**

 **This caused the hallway Yang and Weiss were in to collapse. Yang saw it coming and quickly pulled Weiss back. The princess let out a scream as the pair fell backward. Yang recovered quicker and took a look at the wall before cursing and pulling out her communicator.**

" **Transport, this is Xiao Long. Better take off, we can't get to you. I'll get the princess out on the** _ **Falcon.**_ **" She grabbed Weiss arm and pulled her to her feet, before taking off again. They passed by Ren, who quickly turned and ran after them, yelling to be told what they were doing.**

 **Meanwhile, the wall of the command center burst open as a team of snowtroopers stormed in, followed by the imposing figure of Darth Vader. The Dark Lady took in the damage before leading her troops to their next target, the hangar.**

" **Wait! Wait for me!" Ren yelled as Yang ran to a door, opening it for Weiss and following after her, leaving Ren on the other side. "How typical." He drawled as the door opened and Yang's arm reached out to pull him through.**

" **Come on! We're good to go!" Blake yelled as the pair and robot ran into the hangar.**

" **Hurry up, Spearmint!" Yang yelled at Ren, "Or you're gonna become a permanent resident!"**

 **As Vader closed in with her troops, Yang and Blake tried to run, but the engine on the** _ **Falcon**_ **refused to turn over. Inside, Blake screamed as she was pelted with vented steam.**

" **How's this?" Yang told her, making some adjustments.**

" **Would it help if I got out and pushed?" Weiss asked snidely.**

 **Yang rounded on her. "It might." She replied. It would allow her to ditch the dead weight if nothing else.**

"'Good to go', she says." Yang said sarcastically.

" **Ma'am, might I suggest you- " Ren said before Yang held a finger up, silencing him. "It can wait."**

 **Yang ran to the cockpit and began the activation sequence. The ship initially started powering down, but Yang soon fixed that with a solid blow with her forearm.**

"Remember what Lionheart said about violence and technology." Jaune said.

"My way makes me feel better." Yang replied.

" **This bucket of bolts is never gonna get us past that blockade." Weiss said, her, Ren and Blake joining Yang.**

" **This baby's got a few surprises left in her, sweetheart." Yang replied.**

 **Outside, the snowtroopers began setting up the laser equivalent of a heavy machine gun turret. In response, Yang flipped a switch and a hidden gun dropped down and began firing on the turret.**

" **Blake, switch over. Let's just hope we don't have a burnout." They heard the familiar sound of the ship powering up, and Yang smiled. "See?"**

" **Someday your gonna be wrong," Weiss said, sitting behind Yang, "And I just hope I'm there to see it."**

" **Punch it!" Yang ordered. Blake pulled the switch and the** _ **Falcon**_ **made a fast exit just as Vader entered the hangar.**

"You seem to enjoy the fast exit, Blondie." Roman observed.

"Well, yeah. Nothing quite beats the rush of going 0 to sixty in a matter of seconds." Yang said. "What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, other than it's conspicuous. By blasting out of there at top speed, you're no doubt going to be on the Empire's radar once you get off the planet."

"The transports were doing well enough, and my baby is a smaller ship."

"True, but they had the benefits of a fighter escort and a big-ass EMP cannon. You have neither. I'm sure you can do the math from there."

 **Ruby saw them leave as she made her way to the evacuation point and saw Penny waiting for her in her X-Wing.**

" **Penny! Get her ready for takeoff." Penny beeped and whistled as Ruby climbed into the cockpit. "Don't worry, Penny. We're going. We're going." Ruby pulled them into the void expecting to have to run an Imperial blockade, but found that the fleet had already left. Counting herself lucky -again- she veered off the route Penny expected her to take, making her beep in confusion.**

" **Nothing's wrong, Penny. I'm just setting a new course." She told Penny, seeing the translation on her screen. More beeping. "We're not gonna regroup with the others. We're going to the Dagobah system." A whistle and some bleeping. "That's alright. I'd rather keep her on manual controls for a while."**

 **XX**

 **Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. There was a deleted scene here that I was tempted to add in, but ultimately decided against it. It was just a little too random to throw in there and make everything flow as intended.**

 **And special thanks to the reader who pointed out how dumb the design of the ATAT really is. the only real benefit, as mentioned above, is when you need to cross moderate bodies of water. You would think that the longer legs would make them faster, but they still move at a snail's pace and present a bigger target for the right weapon. They should have just kept the old Clone Wars-era design we saw in Attack of the Clones.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite, and leave a Review, and I will catch you all later.**

 **Next Update: 5/26/20**


	72. Chapter 72- Empire Strikes Back, Part 4

**Old Wolf is tired. So very, very tired.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 72

 **As Ruby flew off into the void, Yang was having a decidedly harder time of things. At the moment, the** _ **Falcon**_ **was being chased by a Star Destroyer. They had managed to get out of range of the big guns, so the Destroyer scrambled a squad of TIE Fighters to chase them down.**

" **Shit!" Blake yelled as the ship was rocked by more laser fire.**

" **I saw 'em! I saw 'em!" Yang yelled, sweat dotting her brow.**

" **Saw what?" Weiss asked.**

" **Star Destroyers." Yang pointed straight ahead. "Two of 'em, headed right for us."**

"At least we know what to call them now." Ren said.

"So what does that make the big one Vader is in?" Weiss asked.

"A _Super_ Star Destroyer." Nora said proudly.

Weiss made to argue, but stopped. "…That is actually very appropriate."

" **Captain!" Ren said, walking into the cockpit, "Might I suggest- "**

" **Shut him up or shut him down! Blake, check the shields."**

" **We can't take another hit like that." She told them.**

" **Fantastic. Well, we can still outmaneuver them." Yang pulled another lever on the console and sent the** _ **Falcon**_ **into a dive right as the Star Destroyers got close. The fighters managed to follow, but the Destroyers were too slow to match them, and two of them collided with one another.**

" **Prepare to make the jump to light speed." Yang said as the** _ **Falcon**_ **leveled out.**

" **On it." Blake replied.**

" **Captain, I really think you need to hear this."**

" **They're getting closer." Weiss stated the obvious.**

" **Oh yeah? Watch this." Yang said as she pulled the lever to make the jump-**

 **Only for the ship to make noises I'm fairly sure it shouldn't make when trying to make the jump to light speed.**

"Well, that doesn't sound right." Yang said with a frown, sitting up. Weiss, meanwhile, began to grin.

" **Watch what?" Weiss said.**

" **I think we're in trouble." Yang muttered.**

" **As I was saying earlier, Captain, I noticed that the hyperdrive motivator has been damaged. It's impossible to go to light speed." Ren informed them.**

" **Definitely in trouble." Yang said as she climbed out of the cockpit.**

Weiss sat her chin atop her hands, looking past Blake at Yang with the most smug face she had ever conjured.

"So, remember what I was saying a few minutes ago?" she said sweetly.

"Yeah, yeah, you were right. Now hush! My baby is in pain." Yang said.

Weiss sat back in her seat and pouted. Ruby rubbing her shoulder to console her.

 **Weiss took over piloting as best she could while Yang and Blake worked on the ship.**

" **I don't know how we're gonna get out of this one." Yang said to Blake as she took a tool from a tool box and climbed underneath the floor. The ship was rocked yet again, causing the tool box to fall on Yang. "OW! Blake!"**

" **It wasn't me."**

 **Yang stood up out of the hole just as the ship jolted again. "That wasn't a laser blast, something hit us."**

" **Yang, get up here!" Weiss called. "Asteroids."**

" **There's an idea." Yang said as she took her seat. "Blake, set 2-7-1."**

" **What are you doing?" Weiss said incredulously. "You're not actually going** _ **into**_ **asteroid field?"**

"For once, I agree with Weiss Cream. What the actual fuck do I think I'm doing?!" Yang said.

"Something incredibly stupid and dangerous." Summer said.

"About par for the course with Yang." Tai said, a little disappointed.

" **They'd be crazy to follow us, wouldn't they?"**

" **You don't have to do this just to impress me." Weiss said, flinching every time they came close to imminent death, which was constantly.**

" **Ma'am, the possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately 3,720 to 1!" Ren nearly wailed.**

" **Never tell me the odds!" Yang told him.**

"That's a lot less than I thought it would be." Blake commented.

"We wouldn't know, would we?" Ren said, "We can't even achieve stable orbit."

"I'm just gonna assume you missed a few zeroes. Makes more sense that way."

 **The** _ **Falcon**_ **nimbly flew through the field, dodging asteroids left and right, but the fighters were just as capable. Though maybe not as capable as they thought, since one of them pretty much flew directly into an asteroid. Another one was clipped by a smaller asteroid and sent into a spin before it blew up on it's own.**

" **You said you wanted to be around when I made a mistake?" Yang said, "This is could be your chance, sweetheart."**

" **I take it back." Weiss said, "We're gonna get pulverized if we stay out her much longer."**

" **Agreed. I'm gonna get us closer to one of the big ones."**

" **Closer!?" Ren and Weiss said together as Yang aimed for a massive asteroid.**

 **Dodging fire from the two remaining fighters, she went to the deck and found a channel between a pair of craters. The fighters followed her in, but then the** _ **Falcon**_ **went thin, turning sideways when the passage began to thin out. The fighters couldn't do anything except crash together, allowing our heroes to make their escape.**

"I will have it known," Yang said to the theater in general. "That while I am a thrill-seeker, I -unlike my counterpart on-screen- do not have a death wish and have a fully functional brain up here." She tapped the side of her head.

" _Noted, Captain. Now, please sit down."_

" **This is suicide." Ren said, "There's nowhere to go."**

" **How about there?" Yang said, pointing down in front of them. "That looks good."**

" **What looks good?" Weiss stood up so she could see.**

" **Looks good to me." Blake said, seeing what Yang had in mind.**

 **The** _ **Falcon**_ **looped backwards and dove straight into a deep hole within another crater.**

" **I hope you know what you're doing." Weiss said.**

" **Yeah, me too." Yang agreed.**

"Me three." Yang whispered.

 **Light years away, Ruby came out of light speed over a world shrouded in clouds.**

" **Yup, that's it. Dagobah." Penny beeped behind her. "No, Penny, I'm not gonna change my mind on this. I'm not picking up any cities or technology. Massive life-form readings, though. There's something alive down there." Questioning beeps. "Yes, I'm sure it's perfectly safe for droids."**

"Mmm, the classic hermit master trope." Blake commented, writing in her notepad.

"What's that?" Nora asked.

"It's something you see in stories. Hero needs to go through intense training, and the only person who can help them lives secluded in the middle of nowhere."

"I suppose a planet devoid of civilization certainly qualifies." Pyrrha admitted.

"It also makes sense if you consider the logic of the universe." Ren added. "We can reasonably assume that Ruby is coming here for training in the Force, yes?" he received nods from those nearby. "And we know that the Force is created by living things, so it makes sense that a place with a lot of life has a strong Force presence."

"Maybe not exactly how it works, but the theory is sound." Blake shrugged.

 **Ruby descended into the clouds and was immediately rocked by turbulence. Penny beeped and whistled in alarm. "I know! I know! All the scopes are dead. I can't see a thing. Just hang on, I'm gonna start the landing cycle."**

 **About a minute later, Ruby saw the branches of trees pelting the canopy mere seconds before her ship crash landed in what she hoped was a shallow pond. Opening the canopy revealed that she had in fact landed in a massive swamp, the only consolation being that she landed close to the shore. She frustratedly took off her gloves and threw them at the floor. She flipped some switches that would release Penny, then climbed out of the cockpit of her ship.**

"God, I hate- that is something I should have been told of when Ozpin gave me and Raven our powers." Qrow groaned. "Just how much it sucks to crash land, period."

"Well, you learned eventually, right?" Summer said as Taiyang laughed.

 **The place was the exact opposite of Hoth and Tatooine. Where both were barren wastelands, this place was teeming with trees, wild animals and other forms of life. Where one was frigid cold, and the other obscenely hot, this place was oppressively warm and muggy. She could feel the sweat building up already.**

 **Penny beeped behind her. "No, Penny, you stay there. I'll take a look around." Suddenly, the ship rocked in the water. Ruby nearly lost her balance, but Penny was thrown into the muck.**

" **Penny!" Ruby called out, trying to spot her mechanical friend in the water, "Where are you?" Her worry disappeared when a periscope topped by a piece of green metal popped up out of the water. Ruby sighed heavily, hanging her head before fixing Penny with a stern look. "You be more careful, ya hear?" Penny whistled innocently. "Penny? That way." She pointed at the shore line.**

"A bit of levity is always nice." Penny said.

"And the antics are totally something I could see you doing." Ruby told her with a grin.

 **Shaking her head, Ruby tossed her helmet into the pilot's seat. She jumped into the water, prepared for potentially cold water, but not for how deep it was. It nearly reached up to her chin before she was able to pull herself out of the water. She looked back at Penny, only to see her periscope pulled underwater, followed by the fin of some aquatic creature.**

"Oh, crap, I take it back! I take it back! Anyone other than Penny. Ren! Make it Ren instead!"

" **Penny!" she cried, pulling her blaster pistol. She scanned the water for any sign to the creature, but saw nothing, the water still and murky. Suddenly, Penny was launched bodily out of the water with a scream and landed hard against some trees.**

" **Oh man." Ruby said, when she found the small astro droid essentially face down in the dirt. "Let's get you up. You were lucky to make it out in one piece." With no small amount of effort, Ruby managed to get Penny on her metaphorical feet. "Anything broken?" Penny shook her dome. "Ho man. You were saying coming here was a bad idea. I'm beginning to think you were right. Ah, Penny, what are we even doing here? It's like, something out of a dream or… maybe I'm just going crazy."**

 **At the Imperial fleet, within the heart of the flagship, Ilia walked into Vader's chambers to find the Dark Lady's meditation pod partially open. She didn't see much more than pale, sickly skin before it was covered by the Lady's signature helmet. She quickly came to attention as Vader turned around and her pod opened fully.**

"Those looked like skin grafts." Kali said, a little disturbed.

"But they're so discolored." Summer commented. "Maybe some kind of synthetic?"

"All I know is, that woman is not well. Physically or mentally."

" **What is it, Admiral?" she asked.**

" **Our ships have sighted the** _ **Millennium Falcon,**_ **my lady." Ilia reported, "However, it has entered an asteroid field and we cannot risk- "**

" **Asteroids do not concern me, Admiral." Vader interrupted. "I want that ship, not excuses."**

" **Yes, Lady." Ilia bowed her head as Vader's pod closed.**

 **Back with the** _ **Falcon,**_ **Yang walked onto the bridge to see Weiss helping Blake with one of the ship's systems, her hands smaller than Blake's and thus more adept for the task, and Ren standing next to them.**

" **I'm gonna shut down everything but the emergency power systems." She informed them.**

" **I'm afraid to ask, Captain, but does that include me as well?" Ren asked.**

" **Course not." Yang said, reassuringly, "Need you to talk to the** _ **Falcon.**_ **See what's wrong with the hyperdrive."**

 **Suddenly, the entire ship rocked from side to side.**

" **Captain," Ren said, "It's quite possible that this asteroid isn't entirely stable."**

"Captain Obvious." Yang and Tai said, giving the screen a mock salute.

" **Not entirely stable?" Yang said sarcastically, "Well, color me glad we've got you here to explain these things. Blake, take the professor into the back and plug him into the hyperdrive."**

" **If it gets him to shut up, sure thing." Blake grunted.**

"Yang, I think I understand how you felt about your other self in Pacific Rim," Ren said. "Because I really do not like this version of me."

 **As Blake and Ren left, the ship was rocked again, harder. Yang fell backwards into a chair and Weiss was thrown into her lap.**

" **Let go." Weiss said, but Yang shushed her, trying to get a bead on what was happening outside. "Let go, please."**

" **Don't get excited." Yang chided.**

" **Captain, being held by you isn't quite enough to get me excited."**

" **Sorry sweetheart." Yang pushed her back to her feet and grinned, "Haven't got time for anything else."**

Yang grinned and turned to Blake, whispering to her. "Hey, I think I know where my story's going. Switch spots with me?"

Blake subtly glanced at Weiss and nodded to Yang with a small grin.

"What are you up to?" Weiss asked suspiciously.

"Blake said her chair had really good warming settings and I wanted to try them out is all."

"Oh, dibs on next!" Ruby chirped.

 **Meanwhile, Ruby had spent her time since crash-landing setting up a small camp for her and Penny, and off-loading what she could from her fighter using a makeshift bridge stretching from the shore to the nose of the ship. She gathered up the last of the emergency supplies and powered down the craft before heading back to the camp, built around where Penny had landed. It was by no means pretty, essentially a rough circle of crates around a small portable lantern.**

" **Alright, ready for some power?" she asked Penny as she laid down the supplies. Penny whistled eagerly, so Ruby plugged her into a compact generator. "Alright, now we just need to find this Ozma, if he even exists." Ruby sat down, pulled a pre-packaged meal box from her bag, and began to eat. "It's really a strange place to find a Jedi Master. This place gives me the creeps. Still, there's something familiar about this place." Penny whistled curiously. "Hard to explain. It feels like- "**

" **Feel like what?" a voice said behind them. Ruby whipped around, blaster drawn to see a small green being hiding behind his clothes.**

" **Like we're being watched." She said.**

"They do a pretty good job with the jump scares, don't they?" Summer chuckled, a hand on her chest.

" **Away put your weapon! I mean you no harm." The little being lowered his arm to reveal a diminutive green alien with a round, balding head, long pointy ears, large eyes, wrinkles everywhere, and dressed in faded tan linen clothes and clutching a walking stick. "I am wondering, why are you here?" he asked.**

" **I'm looking for someone." Ruby said, lowering her pistol slightly.**

" **Looking? Found someone you have, I would say. Hmm? Heheheh!"**

" **Right…"**

" **Help you I can. Yes! Mmm."**

"This green guy is funny." Nora commented.

"It's pretty good puppeteering too." Pyrrha agreed.

" **I don't think so." Ruby said, putting away her blaster. The Stranger frowned. "I'm looking for a great warrior."**

" **Ah! Great warrior." The Stranger stood up, no more than three feet tall, and began to climb down off the tree he was sat on, "Wars not make one great." He walked over to Ruby's meal box and munched on the food she had been eating.**

" **Hey! That's my dinner!" Ruby pulled the box away before she lost anything else to the stranger.**

" **Bleh! How you get so big eating food of this kind?" he asked before climbing up onto one of the crates.**

" **Listen, friend, we didn't mean to land in that puddle, and if we could get our ship out, we would. But we can't, so why don't you just- "**

" **Aww, can't get your ship out." The Stranger mocked before rooting through one of her storage boxes, tossing out things he didn't find interesting.**

Blake was grinning, almost chuckling as she put two and two together. Such a good twist.

" **Don't do that." Ruby groaned, "You're making a mess." She turned around to see the Stranger on the ground holding a small lamp, waving it in front of his eyes. "Hey, give me that."**

" **Mine!" he declared, pulling it out of her immediate reach. "Or I will help you not."**

" **I don't want your help. I want my lamp back. I'm gonna need to get off this slimy mudhole."**

" **Mudhole? Slimy? My home, this is." He didn't notice Penny reaching out with a small claw until it latched onto the lamp and began to pull. What ensued was an amusing tug of war between the two. When the Stranger looked to be losing, he grabbing his stick and began whacking Penny's head with it until Ruby ordered her to give it up.**

All the Beacon kids were chuckling now, enjoying the hermit's childishness.

" **Now will you move it along little fella? We've got a lot of work to do."**

" **No! No, no! Stay and help you I will. Find your friend."**

" **I'm not looking for a friend. I'm looking for a Jedi Master."**

 **The Stranger's eyes widened. "Jedi Master? Ozma! You seek Ozma."**

 **Ruby immediately got down on his level. "You know him?"**

" **Mmmm." He nodded. "Take you to him, I will. Heheheh! But first, we must eat. Come." Ruby stayed put, wondering if the little stranger could be trusted. He turned around and beckoned her to follow.**

" **Penny." She sighed. "Stay and watch over the camp."**

"You do realize I'm going to follow you anyway, right?" Penny asked of Ruby.

"Oh, I know." Ruby said, "I would expect nothing less from a robot played by you."

"I will choose to take that as a compliment."

"I meant it as one."

" **Where is P3 when I need her?" Ren complained. He turned to Yang. "Captain, I don't know where your ship learned to communicate, but it has the most peculiar dialect. I believe it says that the power coupling on the negative axis has been polarized." Yang walked over to see what he meant, a bundle of wire in hand. "I'm afraid you'll have to replace it."**

" **Of course I'll have to replace it." Yang sighed angrily. "Here." She handed to wiring to Blake, who was up in the ceiling of the common room, "And Blake."**

 **Blake looked down at her. "Do what he said?"**

" **Do what he said." Yang confirmed.**

" **On it, boss."**

 **Yang turned and saw Weiss finish soldering a smaller piece of machinery before putting it back together. She then attempted to move another piece below it into position, but it wasn't moving. Yang, being the good person she was, moved in behind Weiss to try and help her, only to be shoulder-checked back.**

" **Jeez, Your Worship, I was only trying to help."**

'Here it comes' Yang thought to herself.

" **Would you please stop calling me that?" Weiss said through grit teeth, more angry at the part she was working on than Yang.**

" **Sure thing, Weiss." Yang said casually.**

 **Weiss sighed. "You make it so difficult sometimes."**

" **Yeah, I do. I really do. You could be a little nicer, though. Admit it, sometimes you think I'm alright."**

 **Weiss gave up when she felt the skin on her finger split slightly. "Occasionally." She admitted, sucking on her finger to stop the bleeding. "When you're not being a scoundrel."**

"Can that word be used like that?" Coco asked, wondering if Yang should be offended or not.

"It's old fashioned, and mostly used to describe men, but I don't see why not." Velvet shrugged.

 **Yang took Weiss' hand and began massaging it. "Scoundrel?" she grinned roguishly. "I like the sound of that."**

 **Weiss faltered slightly, noticing how close they were. "Stop that."**

" **Stop what?"**

 **Weiss nodded at her hand. "Stop that. My hands are dirty."**

" **My hands are dirty too. What are you afraid of?"**

" **Afraid?" she saw Yang leaning in.**

" **You're trembling."**

" **I'm not trembling."**

 **Yang's voice lowered to a whisper. "You like me because I'm a scoundrel. There aren't enough scoundrels in your life."**

" **I like nice women too."**

" **I'm a nice woman."**

" **No you're not. You're-" Yang gently pressed their lips together, Weiss quickly accepting it, her eyes closing. The moment could have lasted forever, if not for Ren.**

Yang made her move, putting her robotic arm around Weiss' shoulders.

" **Captain! Captain! I've isolated the reverse power flux coupling." He said happily, not realizing he had just blocked Yang something fierce. The blonde captain turned to him, her eyes burning red.**

" **Thank you. Thank you very much." She growled.**

" **You're perfectly welcome, ma'am." Ren said innocently.**

 **Out of the corner of her eye, Yang could see the retreating form of Weiss headed back towards the cockpit and sighed dejectedly.**

"Fucking blocker!" Coco yelled. Velvet giggled and looked to Neptune and Sun, who were somehow managing to keep their faces neutral despite- or perhaps because of- the absolute failure in their brains. Mercury had been knocked out by Emerald and Neo at the first sign of this coming and so had seen none of it.

Yang grabbed Weiss' chin and turned her so they were face-to-face.

"Hey." She said in a sultry voice.

* * *

 **Holy fuck, you guys. I have not been this tired in a long time. One of our guys in the Meat dept took two weeks off at the last minute, and we had to scramble to cover the open shifts. I worked six days straight two weeks in a row, with only a single day off separating them. I swear that the last two hours of all that was powered by pure spite for the world.**

 **Plus side, I caught up on a crap ton of sleep yesterday.**

 **Anyway, yeah, this happened. I love the OG Yoda, so I decided to keep the puppet in. Too good to change. And Yang and Weiss. I had fun writing that bit at the end. I don't care if that makes me look like a pig or if it's cliche, I had fun thinking it up anyway.  
**

 **You'll notice that my reactions take a turn at a certain point. That's because I wrote the reactions for this over a couple days, and the Freezerburn bits were on the better of the two.**

 **One last thing before I go. The MCU. I've decided that it will be a separate fic from this, and that it will happen when I reach 2.5k followers rather than making you guys hope I meet a quota by a deadline. Seems more fair all around.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite, and leave a Review, and keep yourselves safe out there.**

 **Next Update: 6/2/20**


	73. Chapter 73- Empire Strikes Back, Part 5

**If you live in America, I hope this chapter brings at least a small amount of light into what is a very dark time for us.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 73

"So what are we calling this one?" Yang asked, her arm around Weiss' shoulders while the smaller girl looked down at her hands, her face red as Ruby's cloak.

"My OTP?" Coco suggested jokingly.

"Lemme think." Nora said, thinking hard. "I never expected this pairing to come up."

"Oh, I have one!" Ruby said, "Freezerburn!"

"Sounds good to me." Yang said, "Weiss? Weiss?"

Ruby poked her partner's face, but got no response. "I think you broke her, Yang."

 **Per Vader's orders, the Imperial fleet moved into the asteroid field. The heavily armored destroyers could easily stand up to the pelting assault of the space rocks, for the most part. Vader herself stood on the deck of her flagship before a trio of holograms, the captains of the other ships.**

" **And that was the last time they appeared in any of our scopes." The middle hologram said, as the one on his right winked out. "Considering the amount of damage we've sustained, they must have been destroyed."**

" **No, Captain. They're alive." Vader said firmly. "I want every ship available to sweep the asteroid field until they are found."**

"Okay, I get obsession, but that's just bad leadership." Sienna commented.

Winter wanted to agree, but at the same time didn't want to accept the fact that she agreed with the former leader of the White Fang on anything.

 **The two holograms bowed to her as they winked out, to reveal Ilia walking up to Vader.**

" **Yes, Admiral. What is it?" Vader said casually.**

" **The Empress commands you to make contact with her." she said.**

 **Vader wasted no time. "Move the ship out of the asteroid field so that we can send a clear transmission."**

" **They're already on it, my Lady."**

" **Good."**

"This is something I've been waiting for." Blake said, "Time to see what the leader of the evil empire is like."

 **Vader returned to her chambers as the ship left the field and stepped onto a small holo-platform behind her meditation pod. She knelt on the platform and spoke with reverence as the image of the Empress flickered to life before her.**

" **What is thy bidding, my Master?"**

 **The holographic face before her may have once been called beautiful, now it was anything but. The eyes were sunken into her face, only her red sclera visible. Her long white hair down from within her black hooded robes, and her white skin was wrinkled, making her look far older than her years.**

"Salem again." Glynda commented, "A logical, if not somewhat tiring choice."

"I'm more concerned with what happened to her." Ozcar frowned. "She may be the most long-lived being on the planet aside from me, but her body has not aged in the slightest as far as I know."

" **There is a great disturbance in the Force." She said, her voice calm and powerful.**

" **I have felt it."**

" **We have a new enemy; the young rebel who destroyed the Death Star. I have no doubt this girl is the offspring of Summer Rose."**

" **How is that possible?"**

" **Search your feelings, Lady Vader. You will know it to be true. She could destroy us."**

" **She is just a girl. Taiyang can no longer help her."**

"Just watch me, ass clown." Tai growled under his breath.

" **The Force is strong with her. The last Rose must not become a Jedi."**

" **If she could be turned, she would be a powerful ally." Vader suggested.**

 **The Empress considered the idea briefly. "Yes. She would be a great asset. Can it be done?"**

 **Vader bowed. "She will join us or die, Master."**

"The Empress is definitely the brains here." Blake declared. "Vader may have the more intimidating presence, but you can practically taste the scheming vibes coming from the Old Lady."

'Old?' Salem's eye twitched at the comment. It wasn't her fault she was cursed with an undying, unaging body. She didn't chose to bathe in the waters of the Pool of Light.

" _It kind of is, though."_

 **It had begun to rain on Dagobah, much to Penny's dismay. She had disobeyed Ruby's order and followed after her mistress to the Stranger's hut and had been left outside as punishment. Ruby conveniently left out the fact that there was no way Penny would even be able to make it inside without knocking out a wall first.**

" **Look, I'm sure it's delicious, but I don't understand why we can't see Ozma now." Ruby said, trying hard to keep it from sounding like whining.**

" **Patience!" her host told her, "For the Jedi it is time to eat as well."**

"Ruby be patient? Yeah, not happening." Yang said.

"If being a Jedi means practicing patience, Ruby doesn't have a chance." Weiss agreed, before realizing the position she was still in and blushing again.

 **Ruby sighed and walked over to the fire, spooning some the 'food' into a bowl. The stuff hardly looked like food, which was saying something since she had been mostly living off of military food for the past two years. She took a bite and grimaced. She suddenly wished she had some MREs right now. At least those lacked any real taste.**

" **Good food. Hmm? Good food." The Stranger said.**

" **How far away is Ozma?" Ruby said, changing the subject as she quietly added some sugar she always kept on hand to the food "Will it take us long to get there?"**

" **Not far. Ozma not far." The Stranger assured as he joined her by the fire. "Patience. Soon, you will be with him. Why wish you become Jedi? Hmm? Hmm?"**

 **Ruby shrugged. "Mostly because of my mother, I guess."**

" **Ah, mother. Powerful Jedi was she. Mmm, powerful Jedi."**

'I knew it.' Blake grinned to herself, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

" **Oh, come on, how could you know my mother? You don't even know me." Finally, everything boiled over and she lost it, "I don't even know what I'm doing here. We're wasting our time!"**

 **The Stranger sighed. "I cannot teach her." he said, "The girl has no patience."**

"Wait what?" Ozcar said. Blake started giggling to herself.

" _ **She will learn patience."**_ **The spectral voice of Taiyang said, making Ruby start and the Stranger scowl before he turned and faced her, all trace of the eccentric hermit gone.**

" **Much anger in her, like her mother." He said.**

" _ **Was I any different when you taught me?"**_

" **No. She is not ready."**

 **Ruby's eyes widened. "Ozma…" he nodded. "I am ready. Ben- I can be a Jedi. Ben, tell him I'm-" she tried to stand but forgot how low the ceiling was.**

"That's Ozma?" Sun said, "I was definitely not expecting that."

"This is fantastic!" Blake cried over her laughter. "The wise master posing as a crazy old swamp hermit? This is one of the best twists I've ever seen."

"Uh, Ms. Goodwitch?" Oscar said, tapping Glynda's shoulder.

"… I'm not talking to Ozpin am I?" Glynda frowned.

"Uh, no, it's Oscar. Hi." He said shyly, "He, uh, he did it again."

"Locked himself away?"

"Yeah."

" **Ready are you?" Ozma questioned, "What know you ready? For 800 years have I trained Jedi."**

"How long?!" Ruby said, flabbergasted.

"I call bullshit." Sun agreed.

"There's no way he's really that old." Coco said.

"He is an alien, though." Velvet argued. "Maybe his species has some kind of genetic quirk that grants ridiculously extended longevity?"

" **My own counsel will I keep on who is to be trained. A Jedi must have the deepest commitment. The most serious mind." He turned and began speaking to the air, specifically Taiyang, "This one, a long time have I watched. All her life has she looked away. To the future, to the horizon. Never her mind on** _ **where she was.**_ **Hmm? What she was doing! Hmph. Adventure. Ha! Excitement. Ha! A Jedi craves not these things. You are reckless!"**

"Congrats, you just described every kid in this room." Torchwick snarked.

" _ **So was I, if you remember."**_

" **She is too old." He said with finality. "Yes. Too old to begin the training."**

" **But I've learned so much." Ruby pleaded.**

 **Ozma sighed. "Will she finish what she begins?" he asked of Taiyang.**

 **Ruby answered instead. "I won't fail you." Ozma looked at her critically. "I'm not afraid."**

" **Oh, you will be." He nodded to himself. "You will be."**

"I love this movie." Blake said happily.

"You're smiling more than I've ever seen you smile, Blake." Sun commented.

"You're right." Yang agreed, "It's kinda freaking me out."

Blake simply responded with a middle finger salute while she continued to watch the movie.

 **The Imperial fleet had taken up a new tactic in searching the asteroid field, having the Destroyers hang back and destroy any asteroids that posed a threat to them from range, while sending out TIE bombers to the larger ones in order to flush their prey from their hiding place. Too bad for them that their prey was hidden deep within one of the largest asteroids, so the bombs were nothing more than loud pops to them.**

 **Weiss was sat in the co-pilot seat of the** _ **Falcon's**_ **cockpit, listening to the bombs drop, when they suddenly stopped. She looked up, waiting for the noise to resume, and saw a shadow pass by. She stood up to get a better look and was greeted by the sudden appearance of a leech-like mouth on the cockpit window. She yelled in alarm and ran for help.**

"Okay, yeah, no. Fuck that thing right up the butt." Coco commented in revulsion.

"Get it the fuck off my baby!" Yang yelled.

 **Meanwhile, Yang, Blake and Ren were continuing with repairs without any Imperial interruptions.**

" **Captain, if I may venture an opinion- " Ren said, but Yang cut him off.**

" **Not really interested in your opinion, Ren."**

" **There's something out there!" Weiss said as she entered the ship's common room.**

" **Where?" Yang asked.**

" **Outside in the cave."**

 **A loud banging from outside gave her statement validity, and Yang and Blake grabbed their weapons.**

" **Let's go, Blake."**

" **Are you crazy?" Weiss asked.**

" **I just got this bucket of bolts back together." Yang told her, "I'm not gonna let something tear it apart."**

" **Then I'm going with you." Weiss growled, grabbing one of the rebreathers Yang and Blake had grabbed and followed them outside.**

"I like that this you is so feisty." Yang whispered to Weiss, finally making the white-haired girl squirm out of Yang's grip.

 **Yang walked down the entry ramp with her pistol at the ready and the rebreather mask over her mouth and nose. Weiss followed close behind and Blake bringing up the rear with her bowcaster.**

" **This ground sure feels strange." Weiss commented as she stepped onto the cave floor. "It doesn't feel like rock."**

" **There's an awful lot of moisture in here as well." Yang added, noting the light fog that hung on the ground.**

" **I don't know. I have a bad feeling about this."**

"And I have a guess at why." Yang groaned. "Please let me be wrong this time."

" **Yeah. Me too." Yang turned and her eyes widened. "Heads up!" she yelled, and fired.**

" **What happened?" Blake asked loudly, running to the source of the disturbance.**

" **It's all right." Yang assured her. "It's all right." she got a look at what she had killed. "Yeah, what I thought. Mynock. Blake, check the rest of the ship and make sure there aren't any more attached, chewing on the power cables."**

" **A mynock?" Weiss said, confused.**

" **Go on inside. We'll clean them off if there are anymore."**

 **Weiss screamed when she felt some fly past her head, and yelled for Yang. Blake shouted at one that had latched itself to the front of her weapon, and Ren yelled ineffectually from the cockpit at one that stuck itself to the glass. Yang fired at one that passed by, but missed and hit the wall. Suddenly, the entire cave shook briefly.**

"Oh, no, no, no." Yang whimpered. She had been right, and this time she really didn't like it.

 **Yang's eyes narrowed. "Wait a minute." she fired again at the ground before her, eliciting the same response as before, but far worse. Everyone grabbed onto something in an attempt to stay upright. That was enough to convince Yang of her theory. "Everyone inside, now!"**

 **They all ran as quickly as they could as the cave continued to move under their feet, making it back to the ship.**

" **Blake! Let's get out of here!" Yang yelled.**

" **The Empire is still out there!" Weiss argued, "I don't think- "**

" **No time to discuss this in committee."**

" **Oof! I am not a committee!"**

 **Yang successfully made it back to the cockpit and slid into her seat next to Blake, Weiss hot on her heels.**

" **You can't make the jump to light speed in this asteroid field." Weiss told her.**

" **Sit down, sweetheart. We're taking off."**

 **The floor finally stopped moving as the** _ **Falcon**_ **lifted off and began to make it's exit. Ren entered behind them and pointed ahead of them.**

" **Look!" he exclaimed.**

" **I see it, I see it." Yang growled.**

" **The cave is collapsing!" Weiss said.**

" **This is no cave."**

 **Yang was proven right as the** _ **Falcon**_ **roared out of the hole, followed by a massive eyeless worm with a huge mouth that tried to snap at them, barely missing. As the ship blazed into the void, the worm retreated into its hiding place with a grumble.**

"How could any living creature survive in space? It's just not possible." Yang said.

"Again, we don't know." Ren said. "Maybe it just has the right biology?"

 **The day had passed on Dagobah, taking the rains with it and leaving a fog in its wake. Ruby was currently climbing up a vine in the middle of the forest, reduced to a tank top and her pants, drenched in sweat and with Ozma on her back in a harness. She reached a solid platform on a tree, grabbed another vine and swung on it to the ground. She paused for a moment before breaking into a run.**

" **Yes! Run!" Ozma encouraged, "Yes. A Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware the Dark Side. Anger, fear, aggression, the Dark Side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you, it will! As it did Taiyang's apprentice."**

"Then, how are they supposed to fight?" Nora asked. "I get the theory, but it's not very practical in a fight. It's hard enough to fight a skilled opponent as it is, let alone controlling your emotions while doing it."

Yang looked at her metal arm and considered the words. If she hadn't been so rash, it wouldn't have happened, but seeing Blake get stabbed by Adam? Her vision went red and she acted before thinking. And it cost her, permanently.

" **Vader." Ruby said as she stopped to breathe. "Is the Dark Side stronger?"**

" **No, no. Quicker, easier, more seductive."**

" **But how am I to know the good side from the bad?"**

" **You will know! When you are calm, at peace. Passive. A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense. Never attack."**

" **But tell me why I can't- "**

" **No, no. There is no why." Ozma sighed. "Nothing more will I teach you today. Clear your mind of questions." He hummed as Ruby caught her breath and put down his pack.**

 **Ozma sat on a log as Ruby went over to her jacket. She frowned as she put it on.**

" **There's something not right here." She said. "I feel cold… death."**

" **That place," Ozma pointed at a cave a few dozen feet off with his gimmer stick, "is strong with the Dark Side of the Force. A domain of evil it is. In you must go."**

"Do what now?" Yang said.

"It's probably some kind of test." Blake assured her.

" **What's in there?"**

 **Ozma looked down. "Only what you take with you." Ruby put on her belt, planning on taking her blaster and lightsaber with her. "Your weapons. You will not need them." Ruby did so anyway.**

"Smart choice, Red." Roman muttered. It was always smart to go into dangerous situations with every tool and advantage you could.

 **The cave went on for several feet before ending in a six foot drop lined with dried vines and sticks. Ruby carefully made her way down, her breathing evening out as she did. The sensation came on suddenly, her entire body feeling like it was slowing, and the world around her with it. She continued further into the cave, ignoring the wildlife around her.**

 **She heard it first, the familiar rhythmic breathing. Then came the source, Darth Vader in all her intimidating glory. Ruby remained calm as she ignited her lightsaber and brought it up in the ready Taiyang had showed her. Vader did the same and crossed her red blade with Ruby's blue blade.**

 **Vader struck first, aiming for Ruby's legs and then her head and finally her chest. Ruby blocked the first two with ease, but struggled on the third of Vader's hammerblows. She pushed the blade away and capitalized on Vader's compromised guard, slashing at her helmet. It came off in a shower of sparks and rolled as it hit the ground. She looked upon her work, unable to believe she had done it, when suddenly the helmet exploded.**

 **When the smoke cleared, Ruby saw her own face gazing up at her from behind the partially destroyed mask.**

"Ominous much?" Coco said.

"What is that even supposed to mean?" Ruby wondered.

"It means you could be the next Vader if you're not careful, Little Rose." Salem answered, even though no one could hear her.

* * *

 **I really have nothing else to say right now.**

 **You know the drill. Follow, Favorite, Review, do whatever.**

 **Next Update: 6/9/20**


	74. Chapter 74- Empire Strikes Back, Part 6

**I am finally caught up with my work and am now officially worried about the future of this story.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 74

"Hey, Princess, you awake?" Yang said, snapping her fingers in front of Weiss' face. Weiss responded with a gut shot Yang wasn't prepared for. "She's good." Yang grunted with a thumbs up.

 **Vader's flagship had broken off from the rest of the fleet, setting up to patrol the area of the asteroid field where their prey had entered. The bridge was more crowded than usual, though a good portion of the occupants were anything but Imperial.**

" **Bounty Hunters." One of the officers scoffed. "We don't need their scum."**

" **Yes, sir." One of his subordinates agreed, "Those rebels won't escape us."**

" **Sir, we have a priority signal from the Star Destroyer** _ **Avenger**_ **." A comms officer told him.**

"Great, another bounty on my head." Yang said, finally getting her wind back.

"And one sponsored by the Empire to boot." Mercury chimed in. "Means big money, which also means big competition. Hate to say it, since I actually like this version of you, Blondie, but you're fucked."

 **Meanwhile, Vader was briefing the bounty hunters.**

" **There will be a substantial reward for the one who finds the** _ **Millenium Falcon**_ **." she said, pacing in front of them, "You are free to use any methods necessary, but I want them alive. No disintegrations." She said to one red and black armored bounty hunter in particular.**

" **As you wish." He said in a familiar voice.**

"Fucking Adam confirmed." Blake groaned.

"I mean, the paint job alone should have been enough to give him away." Sienna said.

"Plus side for Blondie, her survival chances just went way up." Mercury added, "Makes the job harder for the hunters, but it means she can be as reckless as she wants."

" **Lady Vader." The bad-mouthing officer said, walking up to her. "My lady, we have them."**

 **And indeed they did. The** _ **Falcon**_ **was currently on the run from a Star Destroyer that had seen them leaving the field. It maintained suppressing fire on the ship, which was desperately avoiding it.**

" **Let's get out of here." Yang said, "Ready for light speed?"**

" **Ready." Blake said.**

" **One… Two… Three!" Yang pulled the lever, but nothing happened. Weiss lowered her head when she heard the powering down sound. "It's not fair."**

" **Son of a bitch!" Blake yelled.**

" **Transfer circuits aren't working." Yang said, "It's not my fault!"**

" **No light speed?" Weiss asked.**

" **It's not my fault."**

"I don't blame you, Sis." Ruby said, "This you may be good with machines, but a hyperdrive sounds like something only a trained technician is able to work on."

 **The ship rocked from another laser blast. Yang sent them into a dive in order to avoid the full brunt of the Star Destroyer's guns.**

" **Captain, we've just lost the main rear deflector shield." Ren reported. "One more direct hit on the rear quarter and we're done for."**

" **Turn her around." Yang ordered.**

" **Have you lost it?!" Blake yelled.**

" **Just turn her around! I'm going to put all power in the front shield."**

" **You're going to attack them?" Weiss asked incredulously.**

" **Ma'am, the odds of surviving a direct assault on an Imperial Star Destroyer- "**

" **Shut up!" Weiss ordered of Ren.**

" **Or I'll do it for you." Blake added.**

"She's got a plan." Jaune said, "I can tell."

"It had better be a fucking good one." Yang growled.

 **On the bridge of the Star Destroyer, the Captain and his executive officer watched as the** _ **Falcon**_ **turned their way.**

" **They're moving to attack position." The captain realized. "Shields up." The** _ **Falcon**_ **raced along the length of the Destroyer, but didn't fire it's weapons. Instead, it blazed past the bridge, making everyone near the front of it duck instinctually. "Track them." The captain ordered. "They may come around for another pass."**

" **Captain Needa, the ship no longer appears on any of our scopes." One of the lieutenants reported.**

"What the fuck?"

" **They can't have disappeared. No ship that size could have a cloaking device."**

" **Well, there's no trace of them sir."**

" **Captain, Lady Vader demands an update on the pursuit." One of the operators called out.**

 **Captain Needa sighed, knowing what was to come of him. "Get a shuttle ready." He told his XO, "I shall assume full responsibility for losing them and apologize to Lady Vader. Meanwhile, continue to scan the area."**

"Yeah, he's not coming back." Blake said.

"Makes sense, considering how Vader treats failure." Ren agreed.

 **A new day had dawned on Dagobah, and Ruby was still shaken by what she had seen in the cave. She stood on her hands, with Ozma sitting on one of her feet as she extended the other and one of her arms outward.**

"Oh, come on! I wanna see what happened!" Yang whined.

"Sshh! You've had your turn." Ruby sniped. "Also, how am I holding that pose? My real-life dexterity is too garbage to do something like that."

" **Use the Force." He whispered to her. "Now, the stone." He watched as a large stone lifted off the ground and hovered in the air. "Feel it." The stone lowered onto another.**

 **Suddenly, Penny began beeping in alarm as Ruby's X-Wing began to sink further into the bog. Ruby lost her control, tried to regain her balance but ultimately fell, taking Ozma with her. She stood and saw that all but the tip of a single wing was now submerged.**

" **Oh no," she waded up to her ankles, "We'll never get it out now."**

" **So certain are you." Ozma said, shaking his head. "Always with you it cannot be done. Hear you nothing I say?"**

" **Master, moving stones around is one thing, but this is totally different."**

" **No! No different! Only different in your mind. You must unlearn what you have learned."**

"Abstract and cryptic, but I get what he's saying." Ren mused.

"How so?" Jaune asked.

"It's hard to explain. I guess the best explanation is that it's a matter of perspective; you just need to shift your perspective so that the ship and the stone are equals? Like I said, abstract and cryptic."

 **Ruby shrugged. "Alright, I'll give it a try."**

" **No! Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try."**

" _Personally, I have always disagreed with that statement. You cannot do something or fail to do so without first trying."_

"I kind of agree." Qrow said, "I've always believed that's all a person can do is try."

"Especially with men." Taiyang added, conveniently leaving out that he actually meant married men.

 **Ruby nodded and turned back to her ship. She took a deep breath, stretched out her hand and closed her eyes. She reached out with the Force and gripped the ship, willing it to rise up from the swamp. It responded at first, shifting upwards, the water bubbling around the wing tip. Ozma watched with wide eyes; she was actually doing it.**

 **Ruby's face contorted into a frown, and Penny started beeping again as the X-Wing sank fully into the swamp. Ozma closed his eyes and sighed. So close.**

 **Ruby flopped down beside him on her back, her chest heaving.**

" **I can't do it." She panted. "It's too heavy."**

" **Size matters not." Ozma told her. "Look at me. Judge me by my size do you? Hmm?" Ruby shook her head. "And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. It's energy surrounds us, and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you. Here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere! Even between the land and the ship."**

 **Ruby rose and looked down at her teacher. "You want the impossible." She walked away and took a seat on the ground underneath a gathering of trees.**

"Alright kids, sit back and prepare to be dazzled." Qrow muttered, knowing how this would go.

 **Ozma shook his head again and closed his eyes. He stretched out his hand, his face the picture of serenity. The swamp water began to bubble again, and Penny started beeping to get Ruby's attention. With an exasperated sigh, Ruby exited her hiding place and her eyes widened instantly.**

 **She watched as her ship rose from the swamp, water draining out of it and plant life clinging to it. Ozma moved slowly, guiding the ship to a nearby clearing. Ruby's mouth was agape as the ship lightly set down right in front of her.**

"Alright, that's fucking impressive." Neptune admitted.

"The difference between master and student laid out right in front of you." Glynda agreed.

 **She walked over to Ozma. "I don't… I don't believe it."**

 **Ozma nodded solemnly. "That, is why you fail."**

 **Back with the fleet, the ships began to move away from the asteroid field on Vader's orders. Captain Needa fell to his knees, clutching his throat and gasping for air before he finally expired at Vader's feet.**

"Called it." Blake muttered.

"Even Jacques has better employee policies than that." Winter said.

"Which isn't saying very much." Weiss added.

"My opinions of those two are continuing to change." Sienna whispered to Kali, making her giggle.

" **Apology accepted, Captain Needa." She said, walking around his corpse. She signaled for a pair of troopers to dispose of the body while she approached Ilia.**

" **Lady Vader," she said, coming to attention, "Our ships have completed their scan of the area and found nothing. If the** _ **Millennium Falcon**_ **went into light speed, it'll be on the other side of the galaxy by now."**

" **Alert all commands. Calculate every possible destination along their last know trajectory."**

" **Yes, my lady. We'll find them."**

" **Don't fail me again,** _ **Admiral**_ **." The way she pointed at Ilia told everyone present who would be the next to go if they did.**

" **Alert all commands. Deploy the fleet." She ordered.**

 **Unbeknownst to every Imperial in the fleet, the** _ **Falcon**_ **was actually under their very noses, stuck to the backside of the bridge they had buzzed. Yang, Blake and Weiss watched the movement of the Star Destroyers, while Ren was busy berating them. Yang specifically.**

"Oh my god, that is _amazing!_ " Yang laughed.

"The absolute cheek on you." Weiss said with a wide grin. "No wonder they couldn't find you."

"I'll bet you actually did show up on their screens, but their ships' signal was too massive compared to yours." Jaune said.

'Um, bow-chicka-bow-wow?' Yang thought, not sure how to take that one.

" **Captain Xiao Long, this time you have gone to far!" he exclaimed.**

" **For the love of GOD! Would you please shut the hell up!" Blake howled at him**

" **No, Blake, I will not be quiet! Why doesn't anyone listen to me?"**

" **The fleet's beginning to break up." Yang noticed. "Go back and stand by the manual release for the landing claw."**

" **Already on it." Blake said, stepping out.**

" **I really don't see how that it going to help." Ren said, "Surrender is a perfectly acceptable alternative in extreme circumstances." Yang sighed and looked pleadingly at Weiss. Weiss obliged and quickly switched Ren off before he dug his scrap pile any deeper.**

"Irrationality is one of the unspoken truths about mankind." Ren said, "And by that I mean humans and faunus."

"It's also a known fact about Yang." Weiss snarked.

"Maybe Beacon me, but new me is older and wiser." Yang said, "I'm more than just a blunt instrument, y' know?"

" **Thank you." Yang said dramatically.**

" **So, what's the next move?" Weiss asked, leaning forward on the control console.**

" **Well, if they follow standard Imperial procedure, they'll dump their garbage before jumping to light speed, and we'll just float away."**

" **With the rest of the garbage." Weiss nodded, "Clever. And after that?"**

" **After that, we gotta find a safe port somewhere around here." Yang switched on the navicomputer and took a look at their position. "Any ideas?"**

" **Dunno. Where are we?"**

" **The Anoat system."**

" **Anoat system. There's not much out there."**

" **No, there isn't. Well, hang on, this is interesting. Emerald."**

"Yeah?" Emerald said. she had been looking at her scroll, somewhat bored with the movies if Cinder was directly involved.

" **The Emerald system?"**

" **Emerald's not a system, she's a person. Emerald Sustrai. She's a cardplayer, gambler. Scoundrel, you'd like her."**

"Oh, what?"

"Come on." Mercury whined, "Why does Emerald get to play bigger roles while I'm relegated to fodder?"

"Mercury, do shut up and let Emerald have her spotlight, will you?" Cinder said, a black and white wolf laying at her feet growling to reinforce her point. "Thank you, Hayate." She scratched the beast behind his ear, making him grunt in satisfaction.

" **Thanks." Weiss drawled.**

" **Bespin." Yang thought about it. "It's a bit far, but I think we can make it."**

 **Weiss looked at the screen. "A mining colony?"**

" **Yeah, a tibanna gas mine. Emerald conned somebody out of it. We go a long way back, Em and me."**

" **Can we trust her?"**

" **No. But she's got no love for the Empire either, I can tell you that." They felt the ship move somewhat and Yang sat up in her seat, Weiss sitting back in hers. "Alright, Blake, get ready. Detach."**

 **They watched as the** _ **Falcon**_ **pushed off from the ship, letting momentum carry them away from their hiding place. As the cockpit swung back towards the Destroyer, they saw a large hole behind it where large pieces of scrap metal were floating out, just as Yang had planned.**

" **You do have your moments." Weiss commented. "Not many, but you do have them." She gave Yang a small peck on the cheek.**

 **They waited until all the ships had made the jump to light speed before they fired up their own engines and flew the other direction. However, they didn't notice another ship do the exact same thing behind them. From the cockpit of his one-of-a-kind ship, Adam Taurus followed behind them, keeping just far enough away to stay off their radar, but keep them on his.**

"Looks like someone had the same idea as us." Blake sighed.

 **Ruby had resumed her training under Ozma, who wisely kept himself on the ground while she returned to her handstand. Penny beeped as she saw the various supply crates begin to lift off the ground.**

" **Concentrate." Ozma said, "Feel the Force flow. Yes…" Even Penny began to levitate. "Good. Calm. Yes. Through the Force, things you will see. Other places. The future, the past. Old friends long gone."**

 **Ruby's eyes suddenly snapped open. "Yang? Weiss!" the objects she had been levitating fell to earth as Ruby let herself fall onto her back.**

 **Ozma sighed in frustration. "Control, control. You must learn control!"**

" **I saw… I saw a city in the clouds." Ruby said, her voice just above a whisper.**

" **Hmm… friends you have there."**

" **They were in pain."**

" **It is the future you see."**

" **Future?" Ozma nodded and Ruby stood up. "Will they die?"**

 **Ozma closed his eyes tightly. "Difficult to see." He looked back up at Ruby. "Always in motion the future is."**

" **I've got to go to them." Ruby said, making to ready her ship.**

" **Decide you must how to serve them best." Ozma said, stopping her, "If you leave now, help them you could, but you would destroy all for which they have fought and suffered."**

 **Ruby's face twisted in agony as the words of her mentor and the orders of her gut, mind and heart warred with each other within her.**

"What kind of horse shit logic is that?" Yang said, "Save your friends and ruin everything they worked for? What?"

"I think it's a long game thing." Jaune said with a frown. "Vader wants Ruby, that's why she's going after Yang and Weiss so doggedly, to draw her out. Ozma probably thinks that Ruby isn't strong enough to take on Vader and escape. But if she doesn't go, sure, her friends will be martyrs to the cause, but Ruby stays safe and becomes strong enough to beat Vader and the Empress for sure."

"That's idiotic." Ruby said angrily.

"Theoretically sound, functionally impractical."

 **Meanwhile, the** _ **Falcon**_ **had reached its destination, but they were kept in the air by a pair of red two-podded fighters.**

" **No, I don't have a landing permit." Yang said for the billionth time to the air traffic controller, "I'm trying to reach Emerald Sustrai." One of the fighters made a pair of warning shots across their nose. "Woah, woah! Wait a minute! Let me explain!"**

" _ **You will not deviate from your present course."**_ **The lead fighter pilot ordered as he and his wingman fell into formation around the** _ **Falcon.**_

" **Rather touchy, aren't they?" Ren commented.**

" **I thought you knew this person." Weiss hissed.**

" **She does." Blake said, "But she's also double-crossed her more times than she cares to admit."**

" **Well, that was a long time ago, Blake. I'm sure she's forgotten about that by now."**

 **Thankfully, the group was granted permission to land, and was led to the platform by their guards-turned-escorts.**

 **Yang breathed a sigh of relief. "Nothing to worry about. We go way back, Emerald and me."**

" **Who are you trying to convince?" Weiss asked, "Me or yourself?"**

"Took the words right out of my mouth." Weiss said.

 **The city itself was a massive floating parabolic circle-shaped hive with a few spires sticking out of the top. Their landing area was in the city proper, one of many encircling a central building Weiss assumed was the administrative heart of the mining operation.**

" **Oh, no one to meet us." Ren commented as they group exited the ship to find an empty platform leading to a sliding door.**

" **I don't like this." Weiss said.**

" **Well, what would you like?" Yang laughed nervously.**

" **This** _ **did**_ **let us land." Ren pointed out.**

" **Look, don't worry. Everything's gonna be fine. Trust me." Behind them, the door swung up, revealing a small group led by a dark-skinned woman with pale mint-green hair. "See? My friend." She walked up and whispered to Blake. "Keep your eyes open just in case, huh?"**

" **When she's involved? Always." Blake responded.**

" **Hey!" called out, walking up to Emerald confidently.**

" **Why, you double-crossing, no-good swindler." Emerald growled. "You got a lot of guts coming here after what you pulled." Yang pointed to herself innocently. Emerald walked closer. She made to punch Yang, and Yang brought her arms up to defend, only for her body to be crushed in a bear hug from the laughing girl before her. "How ya doin' you old pirate? It's so good to see you!"**

" **Well, she seems very friendly." Ren commented.**

" **Yes." Weiss agreed, still hesitant. "Very friendly."**

"Too friendly." Emerald said, cringing at the sight of her doppelganger, "And what the hell am I wearing? Is that a fucking cape?"

" **What are you doing here?" Emerald asked Yang as the others approached cautiously.**

" **Ah, engine trouble." Yang pointed a thumb back at the** _ **Falcon.**_ **"I was hoping you could help me out."**

 **Emerald's face immediately darkened. "What have you done to my ship?"**

" **Your ship? Hey, remember, pal, you lost her to me fair and square."**

 **Emerald grinned. Oh, she remembered. "And how you doing, Blakey? Still hanging around with this loser?"**

 **Blake shrugged. "What can I say? Life debts are a bitch."**

 **And then Emerald noticed Weiss. "Hello, what have we here?" she walked up to Weiss and shook her hand. "Welcome, I'm Emerald Sustrai. I'm the administrator of this facility. And who might you be?"**

" **Weiss." she said simply and cordially.**

" **Weiss." Emerald repeated, kissing Weiss' hand.**

"Feeling threatened, Yang?" Weiss said with a sideways glance and a grin.

"Of Ms. Notice Me Senpai? Hell no." Yang chuckled.

 **Thankfully, Yang broke it up before things could continue, "Alright, alright, you old smoothie." Yang took Weiss' hand and led her away from the ship. Ren attempted to introduce himself, but was rebuffed, as per usual.**

" **So, what's wrong with the** _ **Falcon**_ **?" Emerald asked, catching up to Yang and Weiss.**

" **Hyperdrive." Yang told her.**

" **I'll have my people get right to work on it."**

" **Good."**

" **You know, that ship saved my life quite a few times. She's the fast hunk of junk in the galaxy."**

" **How's the gas mine?" Yang asked, knowing the best way to distract Emerald was to get her talking about herself. "Still paying off for ya?"**

" **Meh, not as well as I'd like." Emerald said as they started walking the halls. "We're a small outpost and not very self-sufficient. I've had supply problems of every kind, I've had labor disputes- " Yang chuckled out loud. "What's so funny?"**

" **You." she said honestly, "Listen to you. You sound like a businesswoman, a responsible leader. Who'd have thunk it, eh?"**

" **You know, seeing you again brings back a few things." she looked at Yang for a moment before continuing on, "Yeah, I'm responsible these days. It's the price you pay for being successful."**

 **Ren continued to bring up the rear of the group as they walked, waiting until he was called for, when he noticed a door open beside him to reveal an identical version of himself, but in chrome.**

" **Oh! Nice to see a familiar face." He said said.**

" _ **E chu ta!"**_ **his clone said before waling off.**

" **How rude!" he heard some beeping coming from beyond the door and moved in to investigate. "That sounds like a P3 unit in there. I wonder if- Hello?"**

" **Who are you?" a man asked gruffly, followed by the sounds of several weapons being aimed at him.**

" **Oh my! I- I'm terribly sorry. I didn't mean to intrude. No, please don't get up."**

 **Blake faintly heard the sounds of blaster fire and an explosion even from how far away she was, but decided to investigate for herself later.**

"At least we don't have to listen to me for a while." Ren said.

"Even I'm starting to not like this version of you." Nora grimaced.

* * *

 **Feeling better than last week. Still drowning in the negativity that is swamping my country, but a little escapism is helping me cope.**

 **Basically, I've been listening to a shit-ton of Critical Role and TFS At the Table/Let's Plays. I'll be even better once my local D &D Adventurer's League is back up and running.**

 **Be sure to Follow, Favorite, and leave a Review, and I will catch you later.**

 **Next Update: 6/16/20**


	75. Chapter 75- Empire Strikes Back, Part 7

**These last two chapters have been stressing me out to no end. Gonna be so happy when they're done.**

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 75

 **On Dagobah, Ruby had gotten her ship cleaned off of the swamp debris and was prepping her for flight. She had put on her flight suit and was going through final checks with Ozma standing on the ground lecturing her.**

" **Ruby, you must complete the training." He insisted.**

" **Gah, I can't keep the vision out of my head." she argued, "They're my friends. I gotta help them."**

"See, that sounds more like Ruby." Jaune said.

"Nobody gets left behind." Ruby said firmly.

" **You must not go!"**

" **But Weiss and Yang will die if I don't."**

" _ **You don't know that."**_ **The ethereal voice of Taiyang said, the same apparition Ruby had seen on Hoth appearing behind and to the side of Ozma. "** _ **Even Ozma cannot see their fate."**_

"Unfortunately, he has a point." Ren frowned. "If I've learned anything from literature and media, it's that the future is mercurial at best. They may die, but they might not either."

"But if I go and help them, I can make sure they don't."

"But at what cost? If this plays out the way I think, there is no way you come out of it unscathed."

" **But I can help them!" Ruby fought, "I feel the Force."**

" _ **But you cannot control it. This is a dangerous time for you, when you will be tempted by the Dark Side of the Force."**_

" **Yes! Yes! To Taiyang you listen." Ozma said, "The cave! Remember your failure at the cave."**

" **But I've learned so much since then. Master Ozma, I promise to return and to finish what I've begun, you have my word."**

" _ **It is you and your abilities the Empress wants."**_ **Taiyang said,** _ **"That is why your friends are made to suffer."**_

 **Ruby looked up from her work. "That's why I have to go."**

" _ **Ruby, I don't want to lose you to the Empress the way I lost Vader."**_

" **You won't."**

"Do I really sound like this?" Ruby asked.

"Only when you're determined about something." Yang said.

" **Stopped they must be." Ozma said firmly. "On this, all depends. Only a fully trained Jedi Knight, with the Force as their ally, will conquer Vader and her Empress. If you end your training now, if you choose the quick and easy path, as Vader did, you will become an agent of evil."**

" _ **Patience!"**_ **Taiyang urged.**

" **And sacrifice Weiss and Yang?" Ruby snapped at them, tears beginning to form in her eyes.**

" **If you honor what they fight for? Yes."**

" _ **If you choose to face Vader, you will do it alone. I cannot interfere."**_

 **Ruby's eyes closed. "I understand." she opened her eyes, Taiyang and Ozma seeing the resolve burning within those silver orbs. "Penny, fire up the converters." Ozma hung his head as Ruby began to climb up the ladder into the cockpit.**

" _ **Ruby! Don't give in to hate."**_ **Taiyang yelled in warning.** _ **"That leads to the Dark Side."**_

" **Strong is Vader! Mind what you have learned! Save you it can!" Ozma told her.**

" **I will!" she told him as the ship began to lift off and the canopy descended. "And I'll come back! I promise!"**

 **Ozma sighed as the ship began to turn and fly away. "Told you, I did. Reckless is she. Now, matters are worse."**

" _ **That girl is our last hope."**_ **Taiyang agreed.**

" **No. There is another."**

"Okay, what?" Nora was confused.

"Why do the wise old masters always have to be so cryptic." Pyrrha complained.

"Plot device." Blake said blandly.

 **Back in the Cloud City, a new day had come, and Weiss was pacing nervously around the apartment Emerald had given them to stay in. She had abandoned her winter gear in favor of something more appropriate for an upscale urban setting, going for a balance between ornamentation and practicality. She settled for a light blue shirt and pants, black boots, a loose white coat she could quickly ditch if needed, and her usual long ponytail was done up in a thick braid, held in place by the crown pin her father had given her.**

 **She turned as Yang entered the room, wearing a cleaned version of the outfit she had arrived in and her blaster pistol hanging in its holster.**

" **We're looking good." The blonde told her with a smile, "Just a few more repairs to do, and we should be good to go."**

" **The sooner the better." She said, walking up to Yang, "Something is wrong here. No one has seen or knows anything about Ren, and he has been gone too long to have gotten lost."**

"Can a robot get lost?" Nora asked, "I mean, I know they can get lost in general, but in a highly advanced technological city?"

"She has a point." Coco said, "He could probably plug himself into a computer and presto! He's found his way around."

" **Relax." Yang said gently, kissing her on the forehead, "I'll go talk to Emerald, see what I can find out."**

 **Weiss took a seat. "I don't trust Emerald."**

"Smart girl." Mercury commented.

"I wouldn't trust me, either." Emerald agreed.

" **Well, I don't trust her either." Yang said, joining Weiss on the couch, "But she is my friend. Besides, we'll be gone soon enough."**

 **Weiss looked at her sadly. "And then you will too."**

 **Yang couldn't meet her eyes. Yes, that had been the plan, but she had never planned on falling for the white-haired princess, or that said princess would return the sentiment. She wanted to stay with Weiss, of course, but staying would mean putting her and Ruby in more danger than just the Empire, and they were dangerous enough as it was.**

 **Meanwhile, Blake was walking through the junkyard of the city, looking for anything she could use to jerry-rig spare parts, when she noticed a box of scrap containing familiar green and pink plating.**

' **Ren? The fuck happened?' she thought, picking up his head and looking it over. The strange pig-faced aliens who worked there shouted at her to put it down, but she simply yelled at them and began to grab every scrap to Ren she could get her hands on. She returned to the apartment just as Yang and Weiss were having their little discussion.**

" **Coming through!" she called out, carrying in a pair of boxes containing Ren parts.**

" **What happened?" Weiss asked.**

" **Beats the hell out of me. I just found him in a junk pile."**

" **What was he doing there?" Yang wondered aloud.**

" **I managed to salvage him before they could throw him in the furnace."**

 **Weiss sighed. "What a mess. Blake, you think you can repair him?"**

 **Blake gave a cocky smile. "Does a bear shit in the woods? It'll take some time, though."**

" **Emerald's got people who can fix him." Yang offered.**

" **No thanks." Weiss said facetiously.**

 **A dull gong sound announced the arrival of Emerald into their apartment. "Sorry, am I interrupting anything?"**

" **Not really." Weiss said, closing her robe as she crossed her arms over her stomach. Emerald smiled and approached her.**

" **You look absolutely beautiful." She said, drinking in her beauty. "You truly belong here with us among the clouds."**

"Guh." Weiss squirmed in her seat, "Please stop that. You sound like the rich boys Jacques tried to set me up with."

"What about me?" Yang asked.

Weiss thought about it for a moment. "6/10."

"Excuse you?"

"I only took off two points for excessive ego." Weiss flicked her nose teasingly.

" **Thank you." Weiss said politely, hiding her slight discomfort.**

" **Would you all care to join me for a little refreshment?" she took Weiss' hand and looked down at the boxes of Ren. "Having trouble with your droid?"**

" **Nope." Yang said with her best grin, offering her arm to Weiss, which the princess gladly took as they left the apartment. As they walked, Weiss inquired about Emerald's role in everything in Could City.**

" **So you see, since we're a small operation, we don't fall into the jurisdiction of the Empire." She explained.**

" **So you're a part of the Mining Guild, then?" Weiss asked.**

" **Not really, no. Our operation is small enough not to be noticed. Which is advantageous for everybody, since our customers are anxious to avoid attracting attention to themselves."**

"Black market then. Or morally-grey at best." Roman concluded.

" **Well, aren't you afraid the Empire's going to find out about this little operation of yours? Shut you down?" Yang asked.**

" **It's always been a danger, and it looms like a shadow over everything we've built. But things have developed that'll ensure security. I've recently made a deal that will keep the Empire out of here forever." She opened up a door in front of them, revealing a dining room with a long white wood table set for multiple people. And at the head of that table sat Vader, who stood when the door opened.**

"Fucking bitch sold us out." Yang said angrily.

"I told you not to trust me." Emerald shrugged.

"I never expected you would do this! What the fuck?!"

'That's what Ren meant.' Ruby sighed. Her little rescue plans had just gotten a whole lot more complicated.

" **I knew it!" Blake yelled as she tried to unsling her bowcaster, but Yang had beaten her to it, drawing her blaster pistol and firing several times at Vader. Vader simply held up a hand and stopped all the bolts before raising her other hand and pulling the weapon into her grasp using the Force.**

" **We would be honored if you would join us." She said as the bounty hunter that led them here stepped out from behind a pillar, his EE-3 blaster at the ready. Behind the trio, an entire company of stormtroopers burst into the open and surrounded them.**

 **Yang looked to Emerald, her eyes blazing red.**

" **I had no choice, they arrived just before you did." She explained. "I'm sorry."**

"Explains why they wouldn't let us land." Weiss muttered, trying to calm Yang down.

 **Weiss took Yang's hand to calm her. "I'm sorry too." The blonde said as her eyes returned to their normal color.**

" **Traitor." Blake growled.**

 **After a tense meeting with Vader, Blake found herself thrown into a jail cell with the bars making up the ceiling.**

" **You could at least turn off the sirens, asshats!" she yelled, covering her cat ears. To her relief, the sirens fell silent soon after. "Fucking thank you." she muttered, taking a look around. As far as prison went, this was one of the better ones she had been in. At least this one was dry and relatively clean, unlike the last one she had taken residence in.**

' **And it comes with busy work.' She thought as her eyes landed on the boxes full of Ren from the apartment. She decided a puzzle was in order to keep herself sane, so she began to think about how to go about it. 'Might as well start with the obvious.' She pulled out Ren's head and chest, and attached them together. She twisted some bolts at the neck joint and Ren began making noise.**

" **Probably the last things he said before he went kaboom." She muttered.**

" **Stormtroopers?" he said, his mind catching up to him. "Here? We're in danger! I must tell the others! Oh no! I've been shot!"**

"No shit." Ren said in exasperation.

 **Meanwhile, Yang was strapped into a vertical bench by a pair of stormtroopers before a machine that looked like it was meant to do less than comfortable things to people, all the while with Vader supervising. Slowly, Yang was lowered before the machine, and outside, Emerald and Adam waited as her screams echoed through the door.**

" **Lady Vader." Emerald said as Vader exited the room, her height forcing her to duck, and pushing past her to speak to Adam.**

" **You may take Captain Xiao Long to Roman Torchwick after I have Rose." She told him.**

" **She's no good to me dead." Adam reminded her.**

" **She will not be permanently damaged." Vader assured.**

"I reeeaaally don't like the sound of that." Yang whined.

"I'm scared _for_ you." Weiss agreed.

" **Lady Vader, what about Weiss and the Faunus?" Emerald asked over Yang's continued screaming.**

" **They must never again leave this city." She said.**

" **That was never a condition of our agreement, nor was handing Yang over to this bounty hunter!"**

" **Perhaps you think you're being treated unfairly?" Vader said, towering over Emerald.**

 **Emerald was smart enough to see where this was going. "No." she growled.**

" **Good." Vader said, backing off, "It would be unfortunate if I had to leave a garrison here."**

 **The doors of Vader's elevator closed. Adam turned on his heel and walked off, while Emerald fumed in place before turning and growling at herself. "This deal is getting worse all the time."**

"And now you know how every single one of my father's business partners feels." Weiss said snidely.

" **Oh yes, that's very good. I like that." Ren said as Blake was working on the panel on his back. "Oh! Well, something's not right because now I can't see." Blake scowled and messed with his neck a little. "Oh, oh, oh, that's much better. Now if we could just fix the part where I'm** _ **backwards**_ **things would- " Blake immediately hit his off button.**

" **Asshole." She muttered.**

 **Suddenly, the door opened and a pair of stormtroopers walked in carrying Yang on their shoulders. They set her down on her knees in the middle of the room and walked out as she fell, catching herself at the last second. Once Blake was sure they were gone, she helped Yang to her feet.**

" **I feel terrible." Yang said.**

" **You look it." Blake replied. She pushed a button on the wall and a bench came out. "Here." She said, laying Yang on her back.**

 **The door opened again, and this time Weiss was pushed in. She stumbled, but quickly recovered and ran to Yang's side.**

" **Why are they doing this?" she asked no one in particular as she stroked Yang's mane.**

" **They never even asked me any questions." Yang said.**

" **Emerald." Weiss said as the door opened again and the woman in question entered. With a grunt, Yang propped herself up as best she could.**

"Girl has some stones on her, walking in there." Yang growled.

" **Get out, traitor." Blake growled, her hands clenched in barely restrained anger.**

" **You heard her, Em." Yang said weakly.**

" **Shut up and listen!" Emerald shot back. "Vader's agreed to turn Weiss and Blake over to me. They'll have to stay here, but at least they'll be safe."**

"A gilded prison. Nothing I'm not used to." Weiss scoffed. "Nothing I haven't escaped either."

" **What about Yang?" Weiss asked.**

" **Vader's giving her to the bounty hunter."**

" **Vader wants us all dead."**

" **She doesn't want you at all! She's after someone called Rose."**

" **Ruby?" Yang sat up a bit straighter.**

" **Vader's set a trap for her."**

" **And we're the bait!" Weiss said.**

" **She's on her way."**

" **Yeah," Yang growled, standing up weakly, "You fixed us all real good, didn't you? My friend." She swung out and caught Emerald on the chin, but fell forward with her in the attempt.**

" **Stop!" Emerald ordered when the Imperial guards pulled their blaster pistols and leveled them at the prisoners. She got back up and dusted herself off. "I've done all I can. I'm sorry I couldn't do better, but I got my own problems to deal with."**

" **Yeah, you're a real hero." Yang said sarcastically.**

" **You certainly have a way with people." Weiss said, as she and Blake helped Yang back to her feet.**

"It's my gift to the world." Yang joked.

"Sorry to tell ya, sweetie, but the world would like a gift receipt." Weiss said.

"No refunds or exchanges, only store credit."

 **Deep within Cloud City, Vader was overseeing the final preparations for her trap for Ruby, with Emerald accompanying her.**

" **This facility is crude," Vader commented, "but it should be adequate to freeze Rose for her journey to the Empress."**

"Freeze me? like cryostasis?" Ruby asked. "That's terrifying and a little cool at the same time."

"Be cooler if it wasn't being used on you." Yang admitted.

" **Lady Vader!" one of her officers called out as he approached, "Ship approaching, X-Wing class."**

" **Good. Monitor Rose and allow her to land."**

" **Lady Vader," Emerald said when the officer left, "We only use this facility for carbon freezing. You put her in there, it might kill her."**

" **I do not want the Empress' prize damaged. We will test it on Captain Xiao Long."**

"Aw, fuck me in the ass."

 **A few minutes later, Yang, Weiss, and Blake, who was bearing a half-completed Ren on her back, were escorted to the freezing chamber by Adam and a squad of stormtroopers. Ren complained to Blake about his current position, but she ignored him, focused solely on Yang as she and Weiss moved to stand next to Emerald.**

" **What's going on,** _ **buddy**_ **?" Yang asked angrily as Vader descended into the facility.**

" **You're being put into carbon freeze." She replied.**

" **What if she doesn't survive?" Adam asked of Vader, "She's worth a lot to me."**

" **The Empire will compensate you if she dies." Vader assured him. "Put her in."**

" **Heartless bastards!" Blake yelled. She nearly started throwing punches but for Yang stepping in to stop her.**

" **Blake, stop! Stop!" Yang shouted at her. "Blake, listen to me!"**

" **Yang you can't do this!"**

" **Blake, this won't help me. Save your strength. There'll be another time." A stormtrooper clapped a pair of binders on Blake's wrists for safety. "The princess; you have to take care of her. You hear me?"**

" **Damn you." she whispered, trying to hold her tears back.**

 **Yang sighed and looked down at Weiss before smashing their lips together passionately. The kiss was broken when a pair of stormtroopers each grabbed one of Yang's arms and pulled her into position.**

" **I love you." Weiss said.**

" **I know." Yang said stoically.**

 **The platform she stood on was then lowered into the freezing machine and the last thing they saw of Yang Xiao was her face shifting to fear before she was blasted by thick cold smoke that rose out of the machine.**

"Bad ass." Coco said.

"My heart is racing a little." Velvet said, fanning herself.

Weiss remained silent. She had no words to describe how she felt, and instead glanced at Yang.

XX

 **It's that time again folks. Time to let you guys decide what movie will be reacted to next, and we'll be sticking with the sci-fi for a bit. So, here are your choices:**

 **Option 1: Sci-fi/western featuring the Baked Alaska ship**

 **Option 2: Sci-fi/war featuring the Rainbow Sun ship (Sun x Neon)**

 **Be sure to leave your votes in the reviews for this chapter, and remember that only non-guest votes will be tallied. We shall reconvene next week for the thrilling conclusion to The Empire Strikes Back, and hopefully none of you will want to crucify me by the end of it.**


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